Several in Labour Desire Keir Starmer Removed. The Prime Minister Informs Interviewers He'll Survive – while Britain's Economy Is Set to Get Better.

"I'll be sitting in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister remarked, noting that if the discussion was successful, he might invite us into his official residence for a follow-up talk in the coming year.

For a PM, there's rarely ever time off for those in the top job. In the hour before the interview began, the PM had been speaking with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand exactly what had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just targeted and seized its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

Once our interview, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Refresh for the New Year

As the year starts, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a revitalisation. Perhaps even just a little downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

This seemed to have put him in improved morale than at the sluggish end of 2025, a awful annus horribilis for him.

Yet, are he and his supporters kidding themselves if they think his fortunes are set to improve?

Internal Doubts

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

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

Repeatedly he told me he'd be "assessed at the poll", maintaining no one would remove his five-year mandate from him – even if the optimal path of preventing Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 might be for Labour to switch its leader.

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

The Spring Test

The issue for the PM is that he will be scrutinised well ahead of then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He sought to argue, maybe too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

True – in part. But even though he may be reluctant to concede it, No 10 will be held accountable by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no circumstances under which he would walk away, should one of his MPs ran against him for the job, should those elections be very poor for Labour.

Promises of Improvement

He sought to account for his low poll ratings by saying the electorate was reasonably impatient for things to change. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that the coming months would be distinct.

The economy would recover in the face of rising unemployment, he said, when plans the administration implemented during their first turbulent year began to take effect.

• He committed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't set a new date on that.
• He noted too, with the proviso that it wasn't a foregone conclusion, that a peace deal in Ukraine felt a greater possibility now than at any time since Russia's full-scale invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now talking about how to combine US and European forces to offer security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His big argument is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

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

However, in spite of encountering demands from many directions for a more decisive approach, with increased political direction, more vigour, more speed and more urgency, his explanations were familiar ones.

When he finds himself in this much political difficulty, should he consider a new narrative?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as desired.

Sir Keir's problems are not just because governing is hard, but because he and his team have erred, including in the recent past.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister expressed regret that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK following an controversy when past remarks he'd previously made – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

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

And he is facing obvious political dangers as the year gets going. His friendship with the US president entails a new jeopardy after Trump's military action on Venezuela.

Having interviewed Sir Keir Starmer, a former human rights lawyer who opposed the war in Iraq, over a long period, the idea he would be content with these events seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "career-long advocate of international law" but the public "simply lack the complete details at the moment".

Critics called for him to denounce it before we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

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

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new specific plan to align more closely with the European trading bloc – the vast economic European trading zone – will probably elicit accusations that he is going back on his promise never to try to reverse the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A decision to align with more of the single market will delight many on his backbenches, but it is simple material for Reform and the Conservatives to