The United Kingdom’s first election in five years is emerging as a critical contest for the nation’s identity, with some suggesting it threatens the very existence of the Conservative Party, which has been in power since 2010.
On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that a national election would take place on 4 July. This election will decide the future leadership of the UK, as fractured and dispirited Tories, as they are more commonly known, confront the most significant challenge to their 14-year governance.
The man standing between Sunak and his continued stint at 10 Downing Street is Labour Party leader Keir Starmer . And if current polls are to be believed, Starmer will become the next prime minister of the UK on 4 July.
The life of Keir Starmer
Born in London, 61-year-old Keir Starmer is a British politician and barrister who became the leader of the Labour Party in 2020. He has represented Holborn and St. Pancras as a member of UK Parliament since 2015.
Starmer’s early life
Starmer is one of four children of Rodney Starmer, a toolmaker, and Josephine (née Baker) Starmer, a nurse. He was named after J. Keir Hardie, the first parliamentary leader of the Labour Party. Starmer grew up in Surrey and attended Reigate Grammar School, which transitioned from a selective state school to a private institution during his attendance.
The first in his family to attend university, he earned a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Leeds in 1985, followed by a postgraduate bachelor of civil law degree from St. Edmund Hall, Oxford. Between 1986 and 1987, he was part of the editorial collective for the left-wing magazine Socialist Alternatives.
Starmer’s legal career
In 1987, Starmer began his legal practice as a barrister at Middle Temple, one of London’s Inns of Court. In 1990, he co-founded the Doughty Street Chambers legal practice and served as joint head starting in 2002. That year, he was appointed queen’s (now king’s) counsel, a senior barrister role.
Starmer specialised in criminal defense and human rights issues, both domestically and internationally. He defended individuals sentenced to death in several Caribbean countries and served on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s death penalty advisory panel from 2002 to 2008.
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Additionally, he was a human rights adviser to the Northern Ireland Policing Board and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) from 2003 to 2008. These roles significantly influenced his decision to enter politics.
In 2008, Starmer became the director of public prosecutions (DPP) and head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), holding the position until 2013.
One prominent case during his tenure involved the sexual abuse scandal of media personality Jimmy Savile, which the CPS controversially chose not to prosecute. In 2022, then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson falsely accused Starmer of being responsible for this decision. In response to the scandal, Starmer implemented changes to the handling of sexual abuse allegations to ensure justice for rape victims.
As DPP, Starmer oversaw the prosecution of Chris Huhne, the secretary of state for energy and climate change, leading to Huhne’s resignation. During the 2011 riots in London and other cities, Starmer prioritised quick prosecutions over long sentences. For his service to law and criminal justice, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in 2014.
Starmer’s political career
Following the retirement of MP Frank Dodson in December 2014, Starmer was selected as the Labour Party candidate for Holborn and St. Pancras and was elected to the House of Commons on 7 May, 2015.
Although he was considered a potential candidate to replace Ed Miliband as Labour leader in 2015, Starmer did not run due to his inexperience. Instead, he was appointed shadow home secretary by Miliband’s successor, Jeremy Corbyn.
In June 2016, Starmer resigned his position along with other shadow ministers due to concerns over Corbyn’s leadership amid Brexit developments. However, he was reappointed as shadow Brexit secretary after Corbyn’s reelection as leader.
Following the Labour Party’s significant defeat in the 2019 general election, Corbyn resigned, and Starmer announced his candidacy for the leadership position in January 2020, winning on 4 April.
Although he campaigned on a socialist-leaning platform, Starmer has since shifted the Labour Party toward the political centre. This shift has led to accusations of factionalism and marginalisation of the party’s left wing.
Notably, he introduced a motion that led Labour’s National Executive Committee to block Corbyn from being endorsed as a Labour candidate in the next general election, primarily due to Corbyn’s alleged mishandling of anti-Semitism within the party. In February 2023, Starmer outlined five “national missions” focused on the economy, crime, the NHS, education, and the climate crisis as the foundation for the next Labour manifesto.
Starmers’ personal life
Starmer is married to Victoria (née Alexander) Starmer, a solicitor who now works in occupational health for the NHS, in 2007. They have a son and a daughter and reside in North London.
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Starmer is a lifelong football enthusiast, playing in amateur leagues and supporting Premier League club Arsenal. In his youth, he took violin lessons with Norman Cook (later known as Fatboy Slim) and became friends with Andrew Sullivan, a British-born American conservative political pundit.
Starmer’s chances
Headline polls indicate that Labour is poised to secure a decisive majority in July, with the party leading by 20 points, suggesting a potential landslide victory. However, underlying data reveals that Starmer and his party are not significantly more popular or trusted than they were in 2015, when the Conservatives won a majority.
Polling company Ipsos indicates that fewer voters believe Labour is fit to govern compared to 2014, fewer think it has a competent leadership team, and fewer think it understands the UK’s problems.
Since becoming party leader in 2020, Starmer has revamped Labour’s policies, personnel, and poll ratings. During his leadership, Starmer has abandoned pledges to abolish university tuition fees, increase income tax for the top 5% of earners, and bring public ownership to rail, mail, water, and energy sectors.
On the other hand, he has also retracted a promise to invest £28 billion annually in green initiatives and diluted a key policy aimed at improving workers’ rights.
Following Sunak’s announcement, Starmer told voters that the country’s future was in “your hands”, adding “together we can stop the chaos, we can turn the page, we can start to rebuild Britain.”
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He said, “It will feel like a long campaign, I am sure of that, but no matter what else is said and done, that opportunity for change is what this election is about.”
On 4 July this year, the polls will open at 7am and close at 10pm. At the close of voting, an exit poll is published, which usually predicts the result accurately. The results from each constituency begin to come in throughout the night. By morning, it is typically clear who the winner is, with the prime minister either resigning or remaining in office.
With inputs from agencies
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