A Number of within the Labour Party Want Keir Starmer Removed. He Informs Interviewers He Will Remain – and Britain's Economy Will Get Better.

"I'll remain in the same seat by 2027," Starmer stated, adding that if the discussion proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Downing Street for another talk in 2026.

For a PM, there's never any downtime for leaders. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been in calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to work out what on earth had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had recently targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our lengthy talk, which was much longer than typical, had ended, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Starmer appears to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little relaxation with loved ones at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This appeared to have resulted in better spirits than at the difficult end of 2025, a dreadful year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters deluding themselves if they reckon his fortunes are set to improve?

Leadership Questions

The grisly truth for the prime minister is that a significant number of his fellow MPs think he's not very good at his job. Some of them would sooner gamble and oust him sooner rather than later.

But Starmer was dismissing such talk in the interview on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he told me he'd be "assessed at the general election", maintaining nobody would strip his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of stopping Nigel Farage and Reform UK entering No 10 might be for Labour to switch leader.

"We are in the fight of our lifetime and I intend to guide the party," he affirmed.

The May Elections

The challenge for the prime minister is that he will be scrutinised long before then – in a major set of elections in May throughout the UK. He sought to protest, 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 not want to admit 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 step down, should a his MPs contested his leadership for the job, if those elections prove catastrophic for Labour.

An Optimistic Outlook

He tried to rationalise his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was understandably eager for things to improve. He sought to assure me, and the public, that 2026 would be distinct.

The economy would improve in the face of rising unemployment, he claimed, when plans the government put in place during their first choppy year began to bear fruit.

• He pledged to empty asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a specific date on that.
• He added too, with the caveat that it was not a done deal, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first time that Western allies were now considering how to integrate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central point is that this year the country will "see an improvement".

Political Challenges

The PM may have spoken with greater vigour than I've seen from him for a some time – calmer, maybe, with a longer slot to talk.

But despite facing pressure from within his own party for a bolder approach, with much more political vision, more vigour, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were repeated ones.

Given that he is in considerable political trouble, does he need a change of tack?

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

The Prime Minister's problems are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM expressed regret that he regretted saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an controversy when statements he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Sir Keir attributed it to "procedures" for not catching what the activist had said before – a fancier way of saying not my fault.

And he is inviting evident political dangers as the year gets going. His alliance with the US president takes on a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the thought he would be comfortable with such action seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He told me he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "just haven't got the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded criticise the action prior to we spoke. And the government is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the next few days.

And there has always been growing tension in the Labour party to revisit some of the results of Brexit.

The PM disputes he's doing that, but his new firmer pledge to align more closely with the EU's single market – the giant economic European trading zone – will likely provoke howls that he is reneging on his pledge never to try to overturn the choices that followed Brexit.

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