Some in Labour Seek Keir Starmer Gone. He Informs Me He Will Endure – while the Economy Will Strengthen.

"I will be sitting in the same seat by 2027," Starmer declared, adding that if our interview proceeded smoothly, he might invite us into Number 10 for a follow-up chat in the coming year.

There is rarely ever break for leaders. Shortly before our chat started, Starmer had been in calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had transpired in Venezuela, where his close friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our lengthy talk, which was much longer than normal, had ended, Maduro had been charged in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

As the year commences, Sir Keir seems to have had something of a reboot. Maybe even just some downtime with his family at Chequers, the prime minister's rural getaway.

That certainly appeared to have resulted in improved morale than at the sluggish conclusion of 2025, a terrible year politically for him.

But are he and his supporters being unrealistic if they reckon his fortunes are about to improve?

Leadership Questions

The uncomfortable truth for the PM is that many of his party members are convinced he's not very good at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and remove him in 2026.

However Sir Keir was having none of it during our conversation on Saturday morning.

On several occasions he stated he'd be "judged at the general election", insisting no one would remove his term from him – despite the fact that the optimal path of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK reaching No 10 could be for Labour to replace its leader.

"This is the struggle of our generation and I intend to lead us," he declared.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be scrutinised far sooner than then – in a major set of elections in May across the UK. He attempted to protest, perhaps too much, that they are about who runs councils, and who runs the devolved administrations in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not a verdict on Westminster.

Accurate – up to a point. But even though he may be reluctant to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

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

Promises of Improvement

He attempted to account for his unpopularity by saying the public was reasonably anxious for things to improve. He sought to convince me, and the nation, that 2026 would be a change.

The economy would recover despite rising unemployment, he argued, when policies the administration put in place during their initial rocky year began to take effect.

• He vowed to close asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, although he wouldn't set a firm date on that.
• He said too, with the proviso that it wasn't a done deal, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt closer now than at any time since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He disclosed for the first time that Western allies were now talking about how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to safeguard a possible peace.

His central message is that this year the country will "reach a turning point".

Political Challenges

The prime minister may have spoken with renewed vitality than observed from him for a some time – less tense, perhaps, with more time to talk.

But despite facing calls from various quarters for a more decisive approach, with increased political direction, more dynamism, more pace and more urgency, his arguments were well-known ones.

When he finds himself in such significant political peril, does he need a different script?

No government, and especially not one that has been struggling in the polls for many months, gets everything its as planned.

Sir Keir's challenges are not just because government is challenging, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, including in the recent past.

Regrets and Risks

The PM admitted that he was sorry for saying he was "happy" to see the return of the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd previously made – including 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 courting evident political perils as the year unfolds. His friendship with the US president acquires a new complication after Trump's intervention 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 comfortable with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

International Law and Brexit

He asserted he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but we "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Some demanded denounce it prior to we spoke. And the administration is likely to face increased demands to give an explicit view in Parliament in the coming days.

And there has always been growing tension in the Labour ranks to reverse or renegotiate some of the outcomes of Brexit.

Sir Keir denies he's doing that, but his new firmer commitment to align more closely with the EU's single market – the huge economic European trading zone – will likely provoke protests that he is reneging on his promise never to try to reverse the decisions that followed Brexit.

A move to integrate into more of the single market will delight some on his side of the party, but it is easy fodder for Reform and the Conservatives to