Some within Labour Want Keir Starmer Removed. He Tells Me He'll Survive – and Britain's Economy Is Set to Strengthen.

"I'll be sitting in this seat by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, adding that if the discussion went well, he might welcome us into his official residence for another chat next year.

There is rarely ever time off for prime ministers. In the hour before our chat started, the PM had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attempting to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had recently attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When our interview, which was far more extended than normal, had finished, Maduro had been charged in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a little relaxation with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have resulted in a more positive mood than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his allies deluding themselves if they reckon his political fate are about to get better?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the leader is that a significant number of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. A faction of them would rather take a risk and remove him in 2026.

However Starmer was rejecting the idea in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he insisted he'd be "judged at the next election", insisting no one would remove his term from him – even if the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to switch leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I plan to be at the forefront," he affirmed.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He tried to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – to some extent. But even though he may be reluctant to admit it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

This did not stop Sir Keir suggesting that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should a his colleagues ran against him for the job, if those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the voters was reasonably eager for things to change. He sought to persuade the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be different.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he claimed, when policies the government put in place during their initial turbulent year began to bear fruit.

• He vowed to empty asylum hotels ahead of the current deadline of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a certainty, that a settlement in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He disclosed for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core message is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – less tense, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering demands from various quarters for a bolder strategy, with increased political vision, more urgency, more speed and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political difficulty, is a different approach required a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for an extended period, gets everything its own way.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have erred, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister admitted that he regretted saying he was "happy" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an backlash when comments he'd made in the past – including calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is facing evident political perils as the year gets going. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be comfortable with these events seems unlikely.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He stated he was a "lifelong champion of international law" but the public "just do not have the entire story at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face more pressure to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been bubbling desire in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's pursuing that, but his new firmer plan to align more closely with the single market – the huge economic European market – will likely trigger accusations that he is going back on his vow never to try to reverse the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to cosy up to more of the single market will satisfy some on his side of the party, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to