Wikipedia

Keir Starmer

"Starmer" redirects here. For other people with this name, see Starmer (surname).

Sir Keir Rodney Starmer KCB KC (/ˈkɪər/ ⓘ KEER; born 2 September 1962) is a British politician who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. Prior to becoming Prime Minister, Starmer served as Leader of the Opposition from 2020 to 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015, having previously served as Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.

The Right Honourable
Sir Keir Starmer
KCB KC MP
Portrait photograph of Keir Starmer
Official portrait, 2024
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Incumbent
Assumed office
5 July 2024
MonarchCharles III
DeputyAngela Rayner
Preceded byRishi Sunak
Leader of the Opposition
In office
4 April 2020 – 5 July 2024
Monarchs
Prime Minister
DeputyAngela Rayner
Preceded byJeremy Corbyn
Succeeded byRishi Sunak
Leader of the Labour Party
Incumbent
Assumed office
4 April 2020
DeputyAngela Rayner
Preceded byJeremy Corbyn
Shadow portfolios
Shadow Secretary of State
2016–2020Exiting the European Union
Shadow Minister
2015–2016Home Office
Incumbent
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Preceded byFrank Dobson
Majority11,572 (30.0%)
Director of Public Prosecutions
In office
1 November 2008 – 1 November 2013
Appointed byPatricia Scotland
Preceded byKen Macdonald
Succeeded byAlison Saunders
Personal details
Born
Keir Rodney Starmer

(1962-09-02) 2 September 1962 (age 62)
Southwark, London, England
Political partyLabour
Spouse
​
(m. 2007)​
Children2
Residence(s)10 Downing Street, London
Chequers, Buckinghamshire
Alma mater
Occupation
  • Politician
  • barrister
Signature
Websitekeirstarmer.com Edit this at Wikidata
Keir Starmer's voice
Starmer's first speech as Prime Minister
Recorded 5 July 2024

Born in London and raised in Surrey, Starmer attended the selective state Reigate Grammar School. Politically active as a teenager, he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Leeds in 1985 and received a postgraduate Bachelor of Civil Law degree from the University of Oxford where he was a student at St Edmund Hall in 1986. After being called to the Bar, Starmer practised predominantly in criminal defence work, specialising in human rights. He served as a human rights adviser to the Northern Ireland Policing Board, taking silk as a Queen's Counsel in 2002. During his tenure as Director of Public Prosecutions and Head of the Crown Prosecution Service he dealt with a number of major cases, including the Stephen Lawrence murder case. In the 2014 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) for "services to law and criminal justice".

Starmer was influenced by his Northern Ireland policing work to pursue a political career, and was elected to the House of Commons at the 2015 general election. He supported the Remain campaign in the 2016 European Union membership referendum and advocated a proposed second referendum on Brexit. He served in Jeremy Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Brexit Secretary, and following Corbyn's resignation after Labour's defeat at the 2019 general election, Starmer succeeded him by winning the 2020 leadership election. As Opposition leader he moved Labour towards the political centre and emphasised the elimination of anti-semitism within the party, and his party made significant gains in the 2023 and 2024 local elections.

Starmer led Labour to a landslide victory at the 2024 general election, ending fourteen years of Conservative governance and with the smallest share of the electoral vote of any majority government since record-keeping of the popular vote began in 1830. Under Starmer's premiership, the Government has ended certain winter fuel payments for around 10 million people, implemented an early-release scheme for thousands of prisoners to decrease prison overcrowding, and settled a number of public-sector strikes. Starmer has announced a Border Security Command in replacement of the Rwanda asylum plan and a National Violent Disorder Programme to the 2024 riots, as well as reforms to workers’ rights. In foreign policy, Starmer has supported Ukraine in the Russia-Ukraine war and Israel in the Israel-Hamas war.

Early life and education

 
Reigate Grammar School (pictured 2009), where Starmer was a pupil

Keir Rodney Starmer was born on 2 September 1962, at Southwark in south east London,[1][2][3] and grew up in the town of Oxted, Surrey.[4][5][6] He was the second of the four children of Josephine (née Baker), a nurse, and Rodney Starmer, a toolmaker.[6][7] His mother contracted Still's disease.[8][2] His mother attended St. John's Anglican Church in Hurst Green while his father was an atheist.[9] He was nominally "brought up Church of England."[10] His parents were both Labour Party supporters, and reputedly named him after the party's first parliamentary leader, Keir Hardie,[11][12] although Starmer neither confirmed nor denied whether this was the case when asked in 2015.[13]

Starmer passed the 11-plus examination and gained entry to Reigate Grammar School, then a voluntary-aided selective grammar school.[1][12] Reigate GS converted into an independent fee-paying school in 1976, while he was a student. The terms of the conversion were such that his parents were not required to pay for his schooling until he turned 16, and when he reached that point, the school, now a charity, awarded him a bursary that allowed him to complete his education there without any parental contribution.[14][15][16] The subjects he chose to study in the sixth form during his last two years at school were mathematics, music and physics, in which he achieved A level grades of B, B and C.[17] Among his classmates at Reigate were the musician Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim), with whom Starmer took violin lessons; Andrew Cooper, who later became a Conservative peer, and the future conservative journalist Andrew Sullivan. According to Starmer, he and Sullivan "fought over everything... Politics, religion.. You name it."[6]

In his teenage years, Starmer was active in Labour Party politics joining the Labour Party Young Socialists at the age of 16.[18][6] He won a junior exhibition from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he played the flute, piano, recorder and violin until the age of 18.[19] In the early 1980s, Starmer was caught by police illegally selling ice creams while trying to raise money during a holiday on the French Riviera. He escaped the incident without punishment, beyond the ice creams being confiscated.[20][21] The first member of his family to go to university, Starmer read Law at the University of Leeds where he became a member of the university's Labour Club before graduating with first-class honours as a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) in 1985.[11][22] He then went up to St Edmund Hall to pursue postgraduate studies in Jurisprudence taking a Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) degree from the University of Oxford in 1986.[23][11]

Main article: Legal career of Keir Starmer

Barrister

Starmer became a barrister in 1987 at the Middle Temple, then a bencher in 2009.[1][2] He served as a legal officer for the campaign group Liberty until 1990.[11] Starmer was a member of Doughty Street Chambers from 1990 onwards, primarily working on human rights matters.[8][11]

Starmer has been called to the Bar in several Caribbean countries,[24] where he defended convicts sentenced with the death penalty.[6] In 1999, he was a junior barrister on Lee Clegg's appeal.[25] Starmer assisted Helen Steel and David Morris in the McLibel case, at the trial and appeal in English courts, also representing them before the European Court of Human Rights.[26] Starmer was appointed Queen's Counsel on 9 April 2002, aged 39.[27] In the same year, he became joint head of Doughty Street Chambers. In 2005, Starmer said "I got made a Queen's Counsel, which is odd since I often used to propose the abolition of the monarchy".[28] Starmer authored legal opinions and marched in protest against the Iraq War following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, stating in 2015 that he believed that the war was "not lawful under international law because there was no UN resolution expressly authorising it".[29][6]

Starmer served as a human rights adviser to the Northern Ireland Policing Board and the Association of Chief Police Officers, and was also a member of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's Death Penalty Advisory Panel from 2002 to 2008.[2][11] The Northern Ireland Board was an important part of bringing communities together following the Good Friday Agreement, and Starmer later cited his work on policing in Northern Ireland as being a key influence on his decision to pursue a political career: "Some of the things I thought that needed to change in police services we achieved more quickly than we achieved in strategic litigation... I came better to understand how you can change by being inside and getting the trust of people".[30] Starmer represented Croatia at the genocide hearings before the International Court of Justice at The Hague in 2014, arguing that Serbia wanted to seize a third of Croatian territory during the 1990s war and eradicate the Croatian population.[31]

Director of Public Prosecutions

 
Official portrait as Director of Public Prosecutions, 2009

In July 2008, Patricia Scotland, Attorney General for England and Wales, named Starmer to be the new Head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Director of Public Prosecutions. He succeeded Ken Macdonald, who publicly welcomed Starmer's appointment, on 1 November 2008.[11][12] Starmer was deemed to be bringing a focus on human rights into the legal system.[11] In 2011, he introduced reforms that included the "first test paperless hearing".[32] During his time as DPP, Starmer dealt with a number of major cases including the Stephen Lawrence murder case, where he brought his murderers to justice.[33]

In February 2010, Starmer announced the CPS's decision to prosecute three Labour MPs and a Conservative peer for offences relating to false accounting in the aftermath of the parliamentary expenses scandal, who were all found guilty.[34][35] Starmer prioritised rapid prosecutions of rioters over long sentences during the 2011 England riots, which he later concluded helped to bring "the situation back under control".[36][37] In February 2012, Starmer announced that Chris Huhne would be prosecuted for perverting the course of justice, stating in relation to the case that "[w]here there is sufficient evidence we do not shy away from prosecuting politicians".[38]

In 2012, journalist Nick Cohen published allegations that Starmer was personally responsible for allowing the prosecution of Paul Chambers to proceed, in what became known as the "Twitter joke trial". The CPS denied that Starmer was behind the decision, saying that it was the responsibility of a Crown Court and was out of Starmer's hands.[39] When Jimmy Savile's sexual abuse crimes were exposed in 2012, Starmer said amid the subsequent scandal that "It was like a dam had bust and people rightfully wanted to know why he had been allowed to get away with it for so long."[40] In 2013, Starmer announced changes to how sexual abuse investigations were to be handled amid Operation Yewtree, including a panel to review complaints.[41][42]

Starmer stepped down as Director of Public Prosecutions in November 2013, being succeeded by Alison Saunders.[43][44] Awarded several honorary degrees between 2011 to 2014, Starmer was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2014 New Year Honours for "services to law and criminal justice".[45][46]

Early political career

Member of Parliament

My predecessor, the Right Hon. Frank Dobson, to whom I pay tribute, was a powerful advocate of the rights of everyone in Holborn and St Pancras throughout his highly distinguished parliamentary career. Widely respected and widely regarded, he served the people of Holborn and St Pancras for 36 years. Although I doubt I will clock up 36 years, I intend to follow in Frank Dobson's footsteps—albeit my jokes are likely to seem tame when compared with his, and I might give the beard a miss.

— Keir Starmer in his maiden speech to the House of Commons, May 2015
 
Official portrait as MP, 2017

Starmer was selected in December 2014 as the Labour parliamentary candidate for the constituency of Holborn and St Pancras, a safe seat, following the decision of its sitting MP Frank Dobson to retire.[47] Starmer was elected at the 2015 general election with a majority of 17,048 (52.9%).[48] He was re-elected at the 2017 general election with an increased majority of 30,509 (70.1%), at the 2019 general election with a reduced majority of 27,763 (64.9%), and at the 2024 general election with a further reduced majority of 18,884 (48.9%).

During the 2016 European Union membership referendum, Starmer supported the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign for the UK to remain in the European Union (EU).[49] A member of both parliamentary groups Labour Friends of Israel and Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East,[50] Starmer was urged by a number of activists to stand in the 2015 Labour Party leadership election following the resignation of Ed Miliband as Leader of the Labour Party after Labour's defeat at the 2015 general election; he ruled this out, citing his relative lack of political experience at the time.[51][52] During the leadership election, Starmer supported Andy Burnham, who finished second to Jeremy Corbyn.[53]

Shadow portfolios

 
Jeremy Corbyn & Starmer, 6 December 2019

Starmer was appointed to Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Home Office Minister in July 2015. He resigned from this role in June 2016 as part of the widespread Shadow Cabinet resignations in protest at Corbyn's leadership following the 2016 EU Referendum result.[54][55] Following Corbyn's re-election at the September 2016 leadership election, Starmer accepted a new post from Corbyn as Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.[56] In this role, Starmer questioned Theresa May and HM Government's destination for the UK outside of the EU, as well as calling for Brexit plans to be made public and supporting a proposed Second Referendum on Brexit.[57] Following defeat at the 2019 general election, Corbyn announced that he would not lead Labour at the next general election after "a process of reflection".[58] Starmer began to distance himself from Corbyn's leadership and many of the policies put forward at the general election, later revealing in 2024 that he was "certain that we would lose the 2019 election".[59]

Labour leadership bid

Main article: 2020 Labour Party leadership election (UK)
 
Starmer's logo for the Labour leadership

On 4 January 2020, Starmer announced his candidacy for the resultant leadership election.[60][61][62] He gained support from former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.[63] During the Labour leadership campaign, Starmer ran a left-wing platform and positioned himself in opposition to austerity, stating that Corbyn was right to position Labour as "the party of anti-austerity".[64][65] He indicated he would continue with the Labour policy of scrapping tuition fees as well as pledging "common ownership" of rail, mail, energy and water companies, and called for ending outsourcing in the NHS, local government and the justice system.[66] Starmer was declared the winner of Labour's leadership contest on 4 April 2020, defeating rivals Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy, with 56.2% of the vote in the first round.[67][68][69]

It is the honour and the privilege of my life to be elected as Leader of the Labour Party. I want to thank Rebecca and Lisa for running such passionate and powerful campaigns and for their friendship and support along the way. I want to thank our Labour Party staff who worked really hard and my own amazing campaign team, full of positivity, with that unifying spirit. I want to pay tribute to Jeremy Corbyn, who led our party through some really difficult times, who energised our movement and who's a friend as well as a colleague. And to all of our members, supporters and affiliates I say this: whether you voted for me or not I will represent you, I will listen to you and I will bring our party together.

— Keir Starmer's acceptance speech, April 2020

Leader of the Opposition

Main article: Keir Starmer as Leader of the Opposition
 
Starmer speaking in the Commons during Prime Minister's Questions, 22 April 2020

Having become Leader of the Opposition during the COVID-19 pandemic, Starmer said in his acceptance speech that he would refrain from "scoring party political points" and would work with the Government "in the national interest".[70] He later became more critical of HM Government's response to the pandemic following the partygate scandal.[71] In May 2022, Starmer said he would resign were he to receive a fixed penalty notice for breaching COVID-19 regulations while campaigning during the run-up to the Hartlepool by-election and local elections the previous year.[72] The controversy surrounding the event was dubbed "beergate".[73] In July 2022, Durham Police cleared Starmer and said that he had "no case to answer".[74] In August 2022, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Kathryn Stone, found that Starmer had breached the MPs' code of conduct eight times by failing to register interests on eight occasions.[75][76]

Amid the historic number of ministers resigning from Boris Johnson's government in July 2022, Starmer proposed a vote of no confidence in the Government, stating that Johnson should not be allowed to remain in office.[77][78] Starmer also criticised Johnson, as well as his successors Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, for issues such as the Chris Pincher scandal and subsequent government crisis,[79] the economic crisis resulting from the 2022 mini-budget and subsequent government crisis,[80][81][82] the cost of living crisis,[83] and the industrial disputes and strikes including National Health Service strikes.[84][85][86]

As Labour Leader, Starmer focused on repositioning the Party away from the Left and the controversies that plagued Corbyn's leadership, with promises of economic stability, tackling small-boat crossings, cutting NHS waiting times and "rebuilding the NHS", worker rights enrichment, energy independence and infrastructure development, tackling crime, improving education and training, reforming public services, renationalising the railway network, and recruiting 6,500 teachers.[87] Starmer also pledged to end anti-semitism within the Labour Party.[88][89] In October 2020, following the release of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)'s report into anti-semitism in the Labour Party, Starmer accepted its findings in full and apologised to Jews on the Party's behalf.[90][91] In February 2023, Starmer's anti-semitism reforms resulted in the Labour Party no longer being monitored by the EHRC.[92]

Shadow Cabinet

Main article: Shadow Cabinet of Keir Starmer

Starmer's Shadow Cabinet initially comprised both the right and left of the Labour Party. Starmer reshuffled his Shadow Cabinet three times – firstly in May 2021, secondly in November 2021, and finally in September 2023.[93][94] Starmer's reshuffles reduced the representation of the left and soft left on the Opposition frontbench, while increasing the representation of the Party's right.[95][96][97][98] Notable changes included Rachel Reeves replacing Anneliese Dodds as a Shadow Chancellor, the demotion of Lisa Nandy from Shadow Levelling-Up Secretary to Shadow Minister for International Development, and the replacement of Chief Whip Nick Brown with Alan Campbell. Resignations from Starmer's Shadow Cabinet included Andy McDonald and Rosena Allin-Khan.

Local election results

See also: 2021 United Kingdom local elections, 2022 United Kingdom local elections, 2023 United Kingdom local elections, and 2024 United Kingdom local elections

Starmer considered quitting after Labour's mixed results in the 2021 local elections, the first local elections of his leadership, but later felt "vindicated" by his decision to stay on, saying "I did [consider quitting] because I didn't feel that I should be bigger than the party and that if I couldn't bring about the change, perhaps there should be a change. But actually, in the end, I reflected on it, talked to very many people and doubled down and determined, no, it is the change in the Labour Party we need".[99]

During Starmer's tenure as Opposition Leader, his party suffered the loss of a previously safe Labour seat at the 2021 Hartlepool by-election, followed by holds at the 2021 Batley and Spen by-election, 2022 Birmingham Erdington by-election and 2022 City of Chester by-election, as well as a gain from the Conservatives at the 2022 Wakefield by-election. During the 2023 local elections, Labour gained more than 500 councillors and 22 councils, becoming the largest party in local government for the first time since 2002.[100] Labour made further gains at the 2024 local elections, gaining from the Conservatives at the Blackpool South by-election and narrowly winning the West Midlands mayoral election in a knife-edge vote.[101]

2024 general election

Main article: 2024 United Kingdom general election

On 22 May 2024, Sunak announced that a general election would be held on 4 July 2024. Labour entered the general election with a large lead over the Conservatives in opinion polls, and the potential scale of the party's victory remained a topic of discussion throughout the campaign.[102][103]

In June 2024, Starmer released the Labour Party manifesto Change, which focused on economic growth, planning system reforms, infrastructure, what Starmer describes as "clean energy", healthcare, education, childcare, and strengthening workers' rights.[104][105] It pledged a new publicly-owned energy company (Great British Energy), a "Green Prosperity Plan", reducing patient waiting times in the NHS, and renationalisation of the railway network (Great British Railways).[106] Promising wealth creation together with "pro-business and pro-worker" policies,[107] the manifesto also pledged giving 16-year-olds the vote, reforming the House of Lords, and to tax private schools, with money generated going into improving state education.[108][109] On taxes, the day after the manifesto was released, Starmer pledged that not only would income tax, national insurance and VAT not be increased, but that, per their manifesto, their plans were fully costed and funded and would not require tax increases.[110]

Starmer led Labour to a landslide victory in the general election, ending fourteen years of Conservative government with Labour becoming the largest party in the House of Commons.[111] Labour achieved a 174-seat simple majority and a total of 411 seats, the party's third-best result in terms of seat-share following the 1997 and 2001 general elections. The party became the largest in England for the first time since 2005, in Scotland for the first time since 2010 and retained its status as the largest party in Wales.[112] Despite this, Labour won 34% of the vote – the lowest of any party forming a majority government in the post-war era,[113] leading to concerns about the proportionality of the election.[114][115]

In his victory speech, Starmer thanked Labour Party workers for their hard work – including nearly five years of revamping and rebranding Labour in the face of Conservative dominance – and urged them to savour the moment, but warned them of challenges ahead and pledged his government would seek "national renewal":[116][117]

We did it! You campaigned for it, you fought for it, you voted for it and now it has arrived. Change begins now. And it feels good, I have to be honest. Four-and-a-half years of work changing the party. This is what it is for – a changed Labour Party ready to serve our country, ready to restore Britain to the service of working people. And across our country people will be waking up to the news, relieved that a weight has been lifted, a burden finally removed from the shoulders of this great nation. And now we can look forward. Walk into the morning, the sunlight of hope, pale at first but getting stronger through the day, shining once again, on a country with the opportunity after 14 years to get its future back. We said we would end the chaos and we will. We said we would turn the page and we have. Today we start the next chapter, begin the work of change, the mission of national renewal and start to rebuild our country.

— Keir Starmer on 5 July 2024, following his general election victory

Premiership

Further information: Premiership of Keir Starmer

Appointment

 
Starmer as Prime Minister outside 10 Downing Street, 5 July 2024

As the leader of the majority party in the House of Commons, Starmer was appointed as Prime Minister by Charles III on 5 July 2024, becoming the first Labour Prime Minister since Gordon Brown and the first one to win a general election since Tony Blair in 2005.[118][119] He and his wife were driven from Buckingham Palace to Downing Street. Starmer stopped the car on the way back from the palace to go on a walkabout in Downing Street to meet cheering crowds.[120]

In his first speech as Prime Minister, Starmer paid tribute to his predecessor, Rishi Sunak, saying "his achievement as the first British Asian Prime Minister of our country should not be underestimated by anyone" and he also recognised "the dedication and hard work he brought to his leadership", but added that the people of the UK had voted for change:[121]

You have given us a clear mandate, and we will use it to deliver change. To restore service and respect to politics, end the era of noisy performance, tread more lightly on your lives, and unite our country. Four nations, standing together again, facing down, as we have so often in our past, the challenges of an insecure world. Committed to a calm and patient rebuilding. So with respect and humility, I invite you all to join this government of service in the mission of national renewal. Our work is urgent and we begin it today.

Other world leaders including Joe Biden and Justin Trudeau, as well as former Labour Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, congratulated Starmer upon his appointment as Prime Minister.[122] One of his first acts as Prime Minister was to declare that the Rwanda asylum plan as "dead": the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, would establish a Border Security Command to tackle smuggling gangs which facilitate illegal migrant crossings over the English Channel.[123][124] Starmer went on a tour of the four nations of the UK, meeting with leaders including John Swinney, Michelle O'Neill and Vaughan Gething.[125] He also met the twelve regional mayors and announced the establishment of the Council of the Nations and Regions.[126][127] On 24 July 2024, Starmer attended his first Prime Minister's Questions in parliament.[128]

Cabinet

Main article: Starmer ministry
 
Starmer convening his first Cabinet meeting on 6 July 2024

Upon becoming Prime Minister, Starmer set about appointing a new Cabinet which first met the next day on 6 July, and he completed his ministerial appointments the following day, 7 July 2024.[129] Parliament was then recalled to meet on 9 July.[130]

Among Starmer's ministerial appointments were the scientist Patrick Vallance as Minister of State for Science, rehabilitation campaigner James Timpson as Minister of State for Prisons, Parole and Probation, and international law expert Richard Hermer as Attorney General for England and Wales, who were created Life Peers to sit in the House of Lords.[131] The new government also contains a few ministers from the New Labour Blair/Brown governments, including Hilary Benn, Yvette Cooper, David Lammy and Ed Miliband in Cabinet, and Jacqui Smith and Douglas Alexander as junior ministers.[132][133][134]

Domestic policy

 
King Charles III reads the King's Speech.

Domestically, Starmer said that his primary concerns would be economic growth, reforming the planning system, infrastructure, energy, healthcare, education, childcare and strengthening workers' rights, as set out in Labour's 2024 election manifesto.

The 2024 State Opening of Parliament outlined 39 pieces of legislation that Labour proposed to introduce in the months ahead, including Bills to renationalise the railways, to bring local bus services under local public control, to strengthen the rights of workers, to tackle illegal immigration, to reform the House of Lords, and undertaking a programme to speed up the delivery of "high quality infrastructure" and housing. In addition, a number of Bills proposed by the previous Conservative administration were also included, notably the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which featured in the 2023 King's Speech, but had been abandoned when the election was called.[135][136] Skills England, a body whose objective will be to reduce the need for overseas employees by improving skills training for people in England, was launched on 22 July.[137][138]

Immigration

 
Starmer with Chancellor Rachel Reeves, 6 July 2024

One of Starmer's first acts as Prime Minister was the cancellation of the controversial Rwanda asylum plan, describing it as "dead and buried".[139][140] Cooper established the Border Security Command to tackle smuggling gangs which facilitate illegal migrant crossings over the English Channel.[141][142]

Prison overcrowding

Shortly after taking office, Starmer said that there were "too many prisoners",[143] and described the previous government as having acted "almost beyond recklessness".[144] In order to manage the prison overcrowding, newly-appointed Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, announced the implementation of an early release scheme which allowed for prisoners in England and Wales to be released after serving 40% of their sentences rather than the 50% previously introduced under the last government.[145] Over 1,700 prisoners were released in September, with further releases expected in the following year.[146] It then emerged that one prisoner released early under the scheme was charged with sexual assault relating to an alleged offence against a woman on the same day he was freed.[147] Starmer has defended the releasing of prisoners, and accused the previous government of having "broke[n] the prison system."[148]

Two-child benefit cap

Starmer has refused to scrap the two-child benefit cap introduced by the Cameron–Clegg coalition government in 2013, citing financial reasons.[149][150][151] On 23 July 2024, Labour withdrew the whip from seven of its MPs who had supported an amendment tabled by the Scottish National Party's Westminster parliamentary leader Stephen Flynn to scrap it, with Flynn saying that scrapping the cap would immediately raise 300,000 children out of poverty. MPs rejected the SNP amendment by 363 votes to 103.[152] The seven Labour MPs suspended for six months were John McDonnell, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Apsana Begum, Imran Hussain, Zarah Sultana and Rebecca Long-Bailey, all of whom now sit as independents. Starmer launched a Child Poverty Taskforce, in which expert officials from across government would work together on how best to support more than four-million children living in poverty.[153]

2024 England and Northern Ireland riots

 
Starmer receives senior British police officers at 10 Downing Street, 1 August 2024

Following the 2024 Southport stabbing, Starmer described the incident as horrendous and shocking and thanked emergency services for their swift response.[154] He visited Southport and laid flowers at the scene, where he was heckled by some members of the public.[155] Starmer later wrote amid the ongoing riots across England and Northern Ireland following the stabbing that those who had "hijacked the vigil for the victims" had "insulted the community as it grieves" and that rioters would feel the full force of the law.[156]

On 1 August, and following a meeting with senior police officers, Starmer announced the establishment of a National Violent Disorder Programme to facilitate greater cooperation between police forces when dealing with violent disorder.[157] On 4 August, Starmer stated that rioters "will feel the full force of the law" and that "You will regret taking part in this, whether directly or those whipping up this action online and then running away themselves". He added "I won't shy away from calling it what it is – far-right thuggery".[158][159] Starmer later called an emergency response meeting of COBRA.[160] After the COBRA meeting, Starmer ordered a "standing army" to be set up to tackle the ongoing "far-right" riots. This was possible under the special emergency powers which first used 40 years ago under the Ridley Plan, to tackle striking miners in 1984 and 1985.[161]

Starmer faced criticism for his response to the riots, including from Twitter-owner Elon Musk, for not condemning all participants and only blaming the far-right.[162] Musk dubbed the Prime Minister "two-tier Keir", asking "why aren't all communities protected in Britain?".[163][164][165] Starmer rejected calls from some MPs, including Reform Party leader Nigel Farage and Conservative Dame Priti Patel, to recall parliament to Westminster.[166]

Economy

The new Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, accused the previous government of leaving a £21.9bn "black hole", and announced on 29 July that certain winter fuel payments would be scrapped for around 10 million pensioners.[167][168] Following criticism of the plan, Starmer has defended the scrapping of these winter fuel payments, arguing that he had to make "tough decisions to stabilise the economy".[169][170] On 10 September, the Government benches defeated a Conservative Party motion in Parliament by a majority of 120 to block the measure.[171]

Starmer's Labour Government inherited a number of ongoing industrial disputes from the preceding Conservative Government and agreed pay deals with trade unions representing NHS and railway workers, ending strikes in the first few months of taking office.[172] In August 2024, Starmer's government agreed to increase public-sector worker pay by 5 to 7 per cent.[173]

On 10 October, the Government implemented the most significant enhancement of employment regulations in a generation. This included an increase in minimum wages and a wide array of rights, such as immediate protection against unfair dismissal and the entitlement for employees to request flexible working arrangements, unless the employer can demonstrate that such arrangements are impractical.[174][175] Billions worth of investments in emerging growth sectors including AI and life sciences, and infrastructure were unveiled by businesses and ministers at the government’s inaugural International Investment Summit on 14 October 2024. World-renowned CEOs and investors from around the world convened with ministers, First Ministers, and local leaders at the Guildhall in London.[176]

On 11 September 2024, Starmer pledged that there would be no more money for the NHS without reform. In response to the report from a nine-week review conducted by peer and NHS surgeon Lord Darzi, which said that the NHS in England was in a critical condition, Starmer said the solution was reform, not money, and that there will be no more money without reform.[177]

The October 2024 United Kingdom budget was presented to the House of Commons by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves on 30 October 2024. She is the first woman to present a UK Budget, marking the Labour Party's first Budget in over 14 years. It covered Labour's fiscal plans, with a focus on investment, healthcare, education, childcare, sustainable energy, transport, and worker's rights enrichment. The National Minimum Wage is set to increase by 6.7% (reaching £12.21 per hour) and a £22.6bn increase in the day-to-day health budget was announced, with a £3.1bn increase in the capital budget. That includes £1bn for hospital repairs and rebuilding projects.[178] The government plans to allocate £5 billion for housing investment in the fiscal year 2025–26, with a focus on enhancing the availability of affordable housing. Education will receive £6.7bn of capital investment, a 19% real-terms increase. This includes £1.4bn to rebuild more than 500 schools.[179]

Acceptance of gifts

In September 2024, Starmer and fellow senior government ministers started facing criticism for accepting gifts from Labour donors.[180] Starmer also faced accusations of breaking parliamentary rules by not declaring £5,000 worth of clothes bought for his wife by Labour donor Lord Alli.[181][182] The same month, Sky News reported that Starmer had received £107,145 in gifts, benefits, and hospitality since December 2019, two-and-a-half times more than any other MP.[183]

Foreign policy

Main article: List of international prime ministerial trips made by Keir Starmer

United States

 
Starmer with US President Joe Biden at the White House, 10 July 2024

In July 2024, following the 2024 general election, US President Joe Biden congratulated Starmer on "a hell of a victory".[184] Starmer and Biden discussed their shared commitment to the Special Relationship between the US and the UK, as well as mutual support of Ukraine.

Following the first attempted assassination of Donald Trump on 13 July 2024, Starmer posted on X (formerly Twitter) saying "Political violence in any form has no place in our societies" and extended his best wishes to Donald Trump and his family.[185]

NATO

 
Starmer and Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at the NATO summit in 2024

The first overseas meeting Starmer attended as Prime Minister was the 2024 NATO summit held in Washington from 9 to 11 July 2024.[186][187] On the flight to the summit, Starmer laid out a "cast iron" commitment to increase defence spending to the NATO target of 2.5% of GDP in line with the NATO target, following a "root and branch" review of British armed forces.[188][189]

Europe

 
Starmer hosting Taoiseach Simon Harris to Anglo-Irish bilateral talks at Chequers, 17 July 2024

Since becoming Prime Minister, Starmer has sought to "reset" UK relations with the European Union following Brexit, which he opposed. He met with a number of European leaders during his first few months in office.[190][191]

On 27 August 2024, Starmer and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced talks towards revising a Germany-UK co-operation agreement covering areas including defence, energy security, science and technology.[192]

Ukraine-Russia war

At the 2024 NATO summit, Starmer signalled that Ukraine could use British Storm Shadow missiles, sent by HMG by way of military aid, to strike military targets inside Russia, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[193] In a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Starmer called for an "irreversible" membership strategy for Ukraine to join NATO.[194]

China

 
Starmer with Chinese President Xi Jinping on 18 November 2024

In November 2024, Starmer met Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro and told him he wanted to build a ‘consistent, durable, respectful’ relationship with China.[195]

Israel-Hamas war

Starmer has pledged support for Israel in the war against Hamas, but has also called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip since February 2024, having previously refused to call for one during his tenure as Opposition Leader.[196][197] In July 2024, Starmer assured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that HMG would continue its "vital cooperation to deter malign threats" with Israel.[198]

Under Starmer's premiership, licences of some British arms sales to Israel were suspended in September 2024 because of a "clear risk" the weapons could be used in breach of international law. Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced the UK Government's suspension of 30 out of 350 arms export licences to Israel, affecting equipment such as parts for fighter jets, helicopters and drones.[199]

Political positions

Main article: Political positions of Keir Starmer

Starmer's political positions have changed since the 2020 Labour Party leadership election, which he won on a ten pledge left-leaning platform. Most of these pledges, including increasing income tax on top 5% of earners, the abolition of university tuition fees, nationalisation of public services including water and energy, and support for freedom of movement, were scrapped or watered down during Starmer's tenure as Labour and Opposition leader. Starmer has defended this by saying the changing economic circumstances made these pledges unviable.[200][201][202][203]

Some commentators, judging that Starmer has led his party towards the political centre in order to improve its electability, attempt to liken what he has accomplished in this regard with Tony Blair's development of New Labour.[204] Others regard his changes of policy as testament that Starmer holds no clearly-defined philosophy.[205][206][207] A third group think that Starmer does subscribe to a definite ideology and that it is towards the left end of the socialist spectrum, arguing that "Labour under Starmer has advanced a politics of anti-neoliberalism like that of Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell", and that Starmer "differs markedly from New Labour" in "aspiring to restructure an economic model perceived to have failed".[204] Figures including Starmer's former boss – the barrister Geoffrey Robertson[208] – his former advisor Simon Fletcher,[209] and the journalist and broadcaster Peter Oborne,[210] have described Starmer as exhibiting an authoritarian approach.[211] Despite the lack of consensus as yet about the character and even existence of Starmer's ideology, it has acquired a neologism, Starmerism, and his supporters have been called Starmerites.[212][213]

In April 2023, Starmer gave an interview to The Economist on defining Starmerism.[213][214] In this interview, two main strands of Starmerism were identified.[214] The first strand focused on a critique of the British state for being too ineffective and over-centralised. The answer to this critique was to base governance on five main missions to be followed over two terms of government: these missions would determine all government policy. The second strand was the adherence to an economic policy of "modern supply-side economics" which focuses on infrastructure, education, simplifying the construction planning process, expanding labour supply, while rejecting tax cuts and deregulation.[215][216]

In June 2023, Starmer gave an interview to Time where he was asked to define Starmerism, stating: "Recognizing that our economy needs to be fixed. Recognizing that [solving] climate change isn't just an obligation; it's the single biggest opportunity that we've got for our country going forward. Recognizing that public services need to be reformed, that every child and every place should have the best opportunities and that we need a safe environment, safe streets, et cetera."[217]

Starmer has repeatedly emphasised the reform of public institutions (against a tax and spend approach), localism, and devolution. He has pledged to abolish the House of Lords, which he describes as "indefensible", during the first term of a Labour government and to replace it with a directly-elected Assembly of the Regions and Nations, the details of which will be subject to scrutiny by public consultation. He criticised the Conservatives for creating peerages for "cronies and donors".[218] Starmer tasked former PM Gordon Brown with recommending British constitutional reforms,[219] whose report was published in 2022. Endorsed and promoted by Starmer, Brown's report recommended the abolition of the House of Lords, extending greater powers to local councils and mayors, and deeper devolution to the countries of the United Kingdom.[220] Labour's 2024 election manifesto committed to the removal of the remaining hereditary peers from the chamber, setting a mandatory retirement age of 80, and beginning a consultation on replacing the Lords with a "more representative" body.[221] Starmer strongly favours green policies to tackle climate change and decarbonise the British economy. He has committed to eliminate fossil fuels from the UK electricity grid by 2030.[222][223]

In a July 2024 statement to PinkNews ahead of the 2024 election, Starmer stated the Labour Party supported LGBT+ rights, including strengthening protections against hate crimes targeting members of the LGBT community, "modernising" the "intrusive and outdated" gender recognition framework, and a proposed, "trans-inclusive" ban on conversion therapy.[224][225] Starmer has ruled out allowing transgender people to self-ID, and has also said he will continue the block on the Gender Recognition Reform Bill in Scotland.[226][227][228] After taking office, the Labour Party announced a fully trans-inclusive conversion therapy ban.[229][230] After the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin, Starmer supported the Black Lives Matter movement, and took the knee alongside his deputy, Angela Rayner.[231] One year on from Floyd's murder, Starmer promised a Race Equality Act, which he said would be a "defining cause" for his Labour Government.[232]

In the wake of the Murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021, Starmer called for longer sentences for rape and sexual violence.[233] Starmer said he wants crime reduced, maintaining that "too many people do not feel safe in their streets".[234] He has pledged to halve the rates of violence against women and girls, halve the rates of serious violent crime, halve the incidents of knife crime, increase confidence in the criminal justice system, and create a 'Charging Commission'[235] which would be "tasked with coming up with reforms to reverse the decline in the number of offences being solved".[236] He has also committed to placing specialist domestic violence workers in the control rooms of every police force responding to 999 calls to support victims of abuse.[237] Starmer said that Blair's era of New Labour was right to be "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime".[238][239] In June 2024, Starmer pledged to reduce record high legal immigration to the UK,[240] and aims to reduce net migration by improving training and skills for British workers.[241][242]

In December 2023, Starmer used Margaret Thatcher, as well as Tony Blair and Clement Attlee, as examples of how politicians can effect "meaningful change" by acting "in service of the British people, rather than dictating to them".[243][244] Starmer has described the Labour Party as "deeply patriotic" and credits its most successful leaders, Attlee, Wilson, and Blair, for policies "rooted in the everyday concerns of working people".[234] Starmer advocates a government based on "security, prosperity and respect". In a speech in May 2023, Starmer stated:

Don't mistake me, the very best of progressive politics is found in our determination to push Britain forward. A hunger, an ambition, that we can seize the opportunities of tomorrow and make them work for working people. But this ambition must never become unmoored from working people's need for stability, for order, security. The Conservative Party can no longer claim to be conservative. It conserves nothing we value — not our rivers and seas, not our NHS or BBC, not our families, not our nation. We must understand there are precious things – in our way of life, in our environment, in our communities – that it is our responsibility to protect and preserve and to pass on to future generations. If that sounds Conservative, then let me tell you: I don't care.

— Keir Starmer[245]

Personal life

 
Starmer and his wife Victoria, outside No. 10, 5 July 2024

Starmer met Victoria Alexander, then a solicitor, in the early 2000s while he was a senior barrister with Doughty Street Chambers when they were working on the same case. They became engaged in 2004 and married on 6 May 2007 at the Fennes Estate[246] just north of Bocking, Essex.[1][247][248] The couple have two children, a son, who was born a year after their wedding, and a daughter, born two years after that. Both are being brought up in their mother's Jewish heritage.[249][250] Until moving in to Downing Street, the couple resided in Kentish Town, north London, where they own a townhouse.[251][252][253]

Starmer is a pescatarian, and his wife is a vegetarian. They raised their children as vegetarians until they were 10 years old, at which point they were given the option of eating meat.[254] In an interview during the 2024 general election campaign, Starmer said that his biggest fear about becoming Prime Minister was the impact it may have on his children, due to their "difficult ages" and how it would be easier if they were younger or older.[255] During the 2024 general election campaign, Starmer said in an interview that he would try to avoid working after 6 p.m. on Fridays in order to observe Shabbat dinners and spend time with his family.[256][257]

 
Starmer with his family's pet Siberian kitten, Prince, at 10 Downing Street, 19 September 2024

Starmer is an atheist, choosing to take a "solemn affirmation" (rather than an oath) of allegiance to the monarch.[258] He has said that although he does not believe in God, he recognises the power of faith to bring people together.[259] He also accompanies his family to services at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in north London.[256][260] Starmer is a keen footballer, having played for Homerton Academicals, a north London amateur team.[12] He supports the Premier League football club Arsenal.[6] Starmer has written a few articles for The Guardian and other newspapers including The Sunday Telegraph.[261] From 1986 to 1987, Starmer served as the editor of Socialist Alternatives, a Trotskyist radical magazine produced by an organisation under the same name, which represented the British section of the International Revolutionary Marxist Tendency (IRMT).[262]

Since September 2024, Starmer and his family have kept a Siberian kitten, named Prince, at 10 Downing Street.[263][264]

Awards and honours

 
KCB breast star

In 2002, Starmer took silk being appointed Queen's Counsel (now KC).[265] Having received the Bar Council's Sydney Elland Goldsmith Award in 2005[266] for his outstanding contribution to pro bono work in challenging the death penalty in Uganda, Kenya, Malawi and the Caribbean,[267] he was elected an Honorary Fellow of St Edmund Hall, Oxford in 2022.[268]

For his meritorious "services to law and criminal justice", Starmer was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2014 New Year Honours,[46][269] enabling him to wear the Bath neck decoration on occasions such as Remembrance Sunday and the breast star at formal dinners[270] when welcoming overseas dignatories.[271]

Honorary degrees awarded to Keir Starmer
Date School Degree
21 July 2011 University of Essex Doctor of University (D.U.)[272]
16 July 2012 University of Leeds Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)[273]
19 November 2013 University of East London Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)[45]
19 December 2013 London School of Economics Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)[274][275]
14 July 2014 University of Reading Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)[276]
18 November 2014 University of Worcester Doctor of University (D.Univ.)[277]

Starmer was sworn of the Privy Council on 19 July 2017,[278] according him the honorific prefix of "the Right Honourable".[279]

See also

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Further reading

Legal offices
Preceded by Director of Public Prosecutions
2008–2013 		Succeeded by
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Holborn and St Pancras
2015–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Shadow Secretary of State
for Exiting the European Union
2016–2020 		Office abolished
Preceded by Leader of the Opposition
2020–2024 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
2024–present 		Incumbent
Minister for the Civil Service
2024–present
First Lord of the Treasury
2024–present
Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of the Labour Party
2020–present 		Incumbent
Order of precedence in England and Wales
Preceded byas Archbishop of York Gentlemen
as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 		Succeeded byas Speaker of the House of Commons
Order of precedence in Scotland
Preceded byas Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland Gentlemen
as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 		Succeeded byas First Minister of Scotland
Order of precedence in Northern Ireland
Preceded byas Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland Gentlemen
as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 		Succeeded by
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