Keir Starmer

Keir Starmer (born September 2, 1962, London, England) is a British politician and barrister (lawyer) who became leader of the Labour Party in 2020. He has served as a member of Parliament for Holborn and St. Pancras since 2015. Starmer became prime minister of the United Kingdom, replacing Rishi Sunak, after a landslide Labour victory in the July 4, 2024, British general election.

Early life and legal career

Starmer is one of four children of Rodney Starmer, who worked as a toolmaker in a factory, and Josephine (née Baker) Starmer, a nurse. He was named Keir after the first parliamentary leader of the Labour Party, J. Keir Hardie. Starmer grew up in Surrey and attended Reigate Grammar School, a selective state school that became private during his time as a student there. The first member of his family to attain a university degree, he graduated from the University of Leeds with a bachelor of law degree in 1985. He next earned a postgraduate bachelor of civil law degree at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford. Between 1986 and 1987 Starmer belonged to the editorial collective of the left-wing magazine Socialist Alternatives.

In 1987 Starmer began practicing as a barrister at the Middle Temple, one of London’s Inns of Court. Three years later he cofounded the Doughty Street Chambers legal practice, for which he acted as joint head for several years, beginning in 2002. That same year he was appointed queen’s (now king’s) counsel (a senior barrister chosen to serve as a counsel to the crown).

While practicing law, Starmer focused largely on criminal defense work, with a special emphasis on human rights issues, both in the U.K. and overseas. He defended convicts sentenced to the death penalty in several Caribbean countries and was also a member of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s death penalty advisory panel from 2002 to 2008. In addition, he served as the human rights adviser to the Northern Ireland Policing Board (2003–08) and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO). He would later cite his time in these roles as a major influence on his decision to run for Parliament.

Starmer became the director of public prosecutions (DPP) and head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in 2008 and remained in that position until 2013 Among the most prominent cases that occurred during Starmer’s tenure as DPP was the sexual abuse scandal involving media personality Jimmy Savile, whom the CPS chose, controversially, not to prosecute. In 2022 Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson would make a seemingly politically motivated (and unsubstantiated) accusation that Starmer had been responsible for the decision not to prosecute Savile. At least partly in response to the scandal (and the mistaken notion that false accusations of rape are commonplace), Starmer implemented changes in the handling of sexual abuse allegations to avoid approaches that could “lead to injustice” for victims of rape.

While DPP, Starmer oversaw the prosecution of Chris Huhne, secretary of state for energy and climate change, who was forced to resign from the cabinet of the Conservative-Liberal coalition government as a result of criminal proceedings related to a speeding incident. During the 2011 riots that erupted in London and a number of other British cities, Starmer favored the tactic of quick prosecutions over long sentences. In 2014 he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) for his service to law and criminal justice.

Political career

Several months after MP Frank Dobson’s announcement that he would be retiring, Starmer was selected, in December 2014, as the Labour Party candidate for Dobson’s seat representing the London constituency of Holborn and St. Pancras. He was elected to that seat in the House of Commons on May 7, 2015. Although it was suggested that Starmer might run to replace Ed Miliband as leader of the Labour Party in 2015, he chose not to run, citing his inexperience. Instead, Miliband’s successor, Jeremy Corbyn, appointed Starmer shadow home secretary. However, in June 2016 Starmer joined a bevy of other shadow ministers in resigning his position after losing faith in Corbyn’s leadership in the face of Brexit-related developments. Nevertheless, Corbyn, who was reelected leader later that year, appointed Starmer shadow Brexit secretary.

Are you a student?

Get a special academic rate on Britannica Premium.

Subscribe

Following the 2019 general election, in which the Labour Party suffered its worst defeat since 1935, Corbyn stepped down as party leader. Starmer announced his candidacy for the position in January 2020 and won the election on April 4. Though Starmer had run his campaign with a socialist-leaning platform, during his time as leader, the Labour Party has moved away from the left-wing positions of the Corbyn era and toward the political center. In the process, Starmer has faced accusations from some within the party of fomenting factionalism and marginalizing or purging those on the left. Notably, Starmer introduced a motion that led Labour’s National Executive Committee to block the party from endorsing Corbyn as a Labour candidate for the House of Commons in the next general election, largely in response to Corbyn’s alleged failure to adequately address revelations of anti-Semitism within the party during his tenure as leader. In February 2023 Starmer outlined a set of five “national missions”—long-term objectives concerning the economy, crime, the National Health Service (NHS), education, and the climate crisis—which he proposed as the basis for the next Labour manifesto.

Personal life

Like Starmer, his wife, Victoria (née Alexander) Starmer, whom he married in 2007, was trained as a legal professional (a solicitor in her case). She now works in occupational health for the NHS. The couple have a son and a daughter and live in North London. Starmer has had a lifelong passion for football (soccer), has long played in amateur leagues, and has been a devoted Arsenal supporter since childhood. As a youth, he took violin lessons with Norman Cook (later a member of the pop group the Housemartins and now better known as Fatboy Slim) and became friends with Andrew Sullivan, a British-born American conservative political pundit.