Who is Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party in the UK?

The United Kingdom is a country that has been metaphorically described as a mountain long rumbling. Several leaders have reached its summit in the last decade and a half under Conservative rule: David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, and, lest we forget, the very brief but hugely damaging stint of Elizabeth Truss. From the top, they’ve made enough noise to shake its foundations.

Labour win would make Keir Starmer UK Prime Minister

Rishi Sunak, the current Prime Minister – although not for much longer if the polls are even a little close to being right – was climbing up this figurative elevation with a heavy backpack filled with others’ mistakes (along with his own) when the dark clouds drifted ever closer overhead, bringing wind and snow, which will eventually overwhelm him. When caught in an avalanche, often all you can do is hope that it’s not too disastrous.

On Thursday, the country takes to the voting ballots for the UK general election, where a defeat for Sunak’s Conservative Party is widely anticipated, nay, accepted. Imagine an election where the sitting prime minister urges the public to prevent the opposition claiming a “supermajority.” That’s precisely what Sunak and his desperate colleagues –including those in the right-leaning media – are pleading for, in an attempt to avoid that potentially devastating avalanche. The latest polls predict the Labour Party winning around 480 seats in a parliament of 650.

“The likelihood of lightning striking twice in the same place is higher than Sunak winning these elections,” joked sociologist John Curtice, a respected voice in the UK when it comes to electoral analysis. If the defeat transpires, it will end 14 years of a Conservative government, where austerity has massively widened the gap between the haves and have nots, and will usher in a Labour administration led by Keir Starmer. So who is he?

Keir Starmer: family, hobbies, politics

Sir Keir Starmer, the son of a tool manufacturer and a nurse, is a human rights lawyer who served as the chief prosecutor of England and Wales from 2008 to 2013. He entered politics relatively late, becoming a Labour MP in 2015 at the age of 52, and rose to become the leader of the party within five years.

Starmer, the eldest of four siblings and a father of two, is married to Victoria Alexander, an occupational therapist. He is a fan of Arsenal and proudly still plays football. In April 2020, he became the 19th leader of the Labour Party, securing 56% of the vote, and took over the party reins during a time it was still marred in a prior antisemitism controversy. Something he has acted quickly to cleanse.

Some opponents have spent the last few days of the campaign attacking Starmer for saying he attempts to balance his political and family life. He specifically replied to a question stating that by six o’clock on Friday evening, he aims to switch off and dedicate the evening to his wife and children, aged 16 and 13. It’s worth noting that his wife is Jewish and, as he said himself, “I would have thought to anybody it’s blindingly obvious that a Friday night is quite important in some religions and faiths.”

Conservatives criticise him for maintaining a reasonable work schedule, arguing for example that “defending the UK is a job that requires more than just a daytime workday,” according to the current British Defence Minister, Grant Shapps, quoted on X (formerly Twitter), taking a little information and amplifying into a greater mistruth.

“That’s ridiculous and laughable. It just shows that the Conservatives no longer have anything positive to add to this campaign,” Starmer commented on Times Radio. And there has been an angry backlash from some senior Jewish figures.

Why is Keir Starmer a sir?

Starmer, as you may have noted above, is titled a ‘sir’. This is because he was awarded a knighthood in the 2014 New Year Honours for his services to law and criminal justice. His distinguished career as a lawyer pre-politics, notably serving as Director of Public Prosecutions and Head of the Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales, is sometimes used to attack him by political opponents these days, but it obviously often struggles to land.

Knighthoods are often conferred in recognition of significant achievements and contributions to various fields, and in Starmer’s case, it was in acknowledgment of his impactful work in the legal sector.