A Number of within Labour Want Keir Starmer Removed. The Prime Minister Tells Me He Will Survive – while Britain's Economy Will Improve.

"I'll be sitting in the same position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, adding that if our discussion went well, he might welcome the interviewer into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever downtime for those in the top job. In the hour before we sat down, the PM had been on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and trying to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his big ally, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

When the discussion, which was far more extended than usual, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

Renewed Energy for the New Year

As the new year begins, Starmer appears to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just a bit of a rest with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

This seemed to have put him in a more positive mood than at the saggy tail end of 2025, a dreadful political year for him.

But are he and his colleagues kidding themselves if they think his political fate are poised to improve?

Party Concerns

The grisly reality for the leader is that many of his party members believe he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would sooner gamble and remove him this year.

However Sir Keir was having none of it when we spoke on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "evaluated at the general election", insisting no one would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

"This is the fight of our times and I aim to lead us," he said.

Upcoming Local Votes

The problem for the PM is that he will be judged well ahead of then – in a huge set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to contend, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs councils, 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 concede 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 walk away, should one of his MPs challenged him for the job, should those elections be disastrous for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He sought to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was understandably impatient for things to improve. He sought to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would improve despite rising unemployment, he said, when strategies the government implemented during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He said too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western partners were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to ensure security for Ukraine – to safeguard a potential peace.

His core message is that in 2026 the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have communicated with greater vigour than observed from him for a while – more relaxed, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing demands from within his own party for a more decisive strategy, with increased political direction, more urgency, more pace and more immediacy, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in considerable political peril, should he consider a new narrative?

No government, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for an extended period, gets everything its as desired.

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his team have faltered, including in the last few weeks.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted 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 – resurfaced.

Starmer blamed "the process" for not realising what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is courting clear political dangers as the year progresses. His alliance with the US president acquires a new risk after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the notion he would be comfortable with such action seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He asserted he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but we "simply lack the full picture at the moment".

Opponents wanted him to denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is expected to face increased demands to give an clear view in Parliament in the near future.

There has also long been growing desire in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir disputes he's heading in that direction, but his new more concrete plan to move closer with the EU's single market – the vast economic European market – will probably elicit howls that he is breaking his pledge never to try to reverse the decisions that stemmed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will satisfy some on his backbenches, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to