Some in Labour Want Keir Starmer Removed. He Tells Me He Will Remain – and the Economy Is Set to Strengthen.

"I'll remain in this office by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer stated, joking that if the discussion went well, he might welcome us into Downing Street for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for prime ministers. Shortly before the interview began, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had occurred in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a kind of a refresh. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's official country residence.

This appeared to have left him in better spirits than at the difficult conclusion of 2025, a awful year politically for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh truth for the prime minister is that numerous of his fellow MPs are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

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

On several occasions he stated he'd be "evaluated at the poll", insisting no one would strip his term from him – even if the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the fight of our generation and I plan to lead us," he affirmed.

Upcoming Local Votes

The issue for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a mega set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But although he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir suggesting that there were no scenario under which he would resign, even if a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to explain his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably anxious for things to change. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that this year would be distinct.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the government implemented during their initial rocky year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he did not put a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to protect a potential peace.

His core message is that in 2026 the country will "turn the corner".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a while – less tense, perhaps, with a longer slot to talk.

However, in spite of encountering pressure from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political vision, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his explanations were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, is a different approach required a change of tack?

No administration, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because governing is difficult, but because he and his team have made mistakes, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

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

Sir Keir attributed it to "the system" for failing to identify what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting evident political risks as the year unfolds. His alliance with the US president takes on a new risk after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Opponents called for him to criticise the action before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been bubbling pressure in the Labour party to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir rejects he's pursuing that, but his new firmer pledge to integrate further with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European market – will probably provoke howls that he is reneging on his promise never to try to overturn the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

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