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Starmer is determined to fight on - and there's nothing harder to remove than a leader who refuses to go, writes Andrew Marr

I bumped into Sir Keir Starmer on Tuesday - but if he wants to survive, with this current party, he is going to have to move to the left.

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Andrew Marr

By Andrew Marr

I'm going to do something I almost never do, which is share a private conversation.

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That's because it has changed the way I'm thinking about this political crisis, at least a bit... and because I think the person I was talking to, I am quite sure, wouldn't mind me sharing it.

The person was Sir Keir Starmer, who I happened to bump into this morning.

I've always told you I think he's a decent man, but also, a leader now in terminal political trouble.

So I told him. And he looked me in the eye, quite angrily, and he said: "You're wrong. I am going to prove you wrong. I am going to fight."

You can't actually see the iron when it enters somebody's soul, but I got a glimpse of it. And that was pretty much the same message he gave to the Parliamentary Labour Party last night.

So perhaps there's a new fact to consider in all this, which is that the more Starmer's back is shoved against a wall, the more determined he gets.

Okay. Fine. But why does this matter?

For this simple reason: it is far, far harder to remove a leader who refuses to go, the battle is bloodier, the damage to the party and the government is more severe, and therefore the whole calculation is different.

It's a significant fact.

About the depth of the trouble and the weakness of the government's position this winter, I haven't changed my mind a jot.

We are heading towards a Reform UK government, and the victory again of the SNP in Scotland, followed probably by renewed pressure for an independence referendum.

The Prime Minister's position is not safe or anything like it.

I think that if he wants to survive, with this current party, he is going to have to move to the left.

Ed Miliband indicated as much this morning. We'll see.

I'd be very pleased to be wrong about this new angrier and more determined-sounding Keir, though I still want to hear a lot more about what he actually wants to do next.

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Andrew Marr is an author, journalist and presenter for LBC.

LBC Views provides a platform for diverse opinions on current affairs and matters of public interest.

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official LBC position.

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