Several in Labour Want Keir Starmer Removed. He Assures Me He'll Endure – while Britain's Economy Is Set to Improve.

"I will be positioned in the same seat by 2027," Sir Keir Starmer remarked, adding that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might welcome the interviewer into Number 10 for another conversation in the coming year.

There is rarely ever downtime for prime ministers. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had happened in Venezuela, where his close ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than normal, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the new year begins, Sir Keir appears to have had a degree of a revitalisation. Maybe even just a bit of downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the sluggish end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues deluding themselves if they believe his fortunes are about to improve?

Party Concerns

The uncomfortable truth for the leader is that numerous of his party members think he's ineffective at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and remove him sooner rather than later.

However Sir Keir was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining no one would take his five-year mandate from him – despite the fact that the best chance of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the battle of our lifetime and I aim to be at the forefront," he declared.

Upcoming Local Votes

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

Accurate – in part. But although he may not want to concede it, No 10 will be judged by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would resign, should a his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He attempted to explain his unpopularity by saying the voters was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be a change.

The economic situation would strengthen despite rising unemployment, he said, when plans the government implemented during their first rocky year began to show results.

• He pledged to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't put a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the qualification that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's major invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now discussing how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a possible peace.

His big point is that soon the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

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

But despite encountering demands from various quarters for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were repeated ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, is a different approach required a new narrative?

No government, and especially not one that has been unpopular for many months, has everything its own way.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because government is difficult, but because he and his team have erred, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "delighted" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when statements he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – came to light.

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

And he is facing evident political perils as the year progresses. His close relationship with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be at ease with this kind of intervention seems implausible.

International Law and Brexit

He stated he was a "longtime proponent of international law" but we "simply do not have the entire story at the moment".

Opponents demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been bubbling pressure in the Labour ranks to revisit some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new specific pledge to move closer with the European trading bloc – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely elicit protests that he is breaking his promise never to try to overturn the results that stemmed from Brexit.

A commitment to integrate into more of the single market will satisfy a faction on his own side, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to