Keir Starmer

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 July 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015, and was previously Leader of the Opposition from 2020 to 2024 and Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.

Born in London and raised in Surrey, Starmer attended the selective state Reigate Grammar School which became a private school while he was a student. He was politically active from an early age and joined the Labour Party Young Socialists at the age of 16. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Leeds in 1985 and gained a postgraduate Bachelor of Civil Law degree at St Edmund Hall at the University of Oxford 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 and was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 2002, later citing his work on policing in Northern Ireland as being a key influence on his decision to pursue a political career. During his time as Director of Public Prosecutions, he dealt with a number of major cases including the Stephen Lawrence murder case. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to law and criminal justice.

Starmer was elected to the House of Commons at the 2015 general election. As a backbencher, he supported the unsuccessful Britain Stronger in Europe campaign in the 2016 European Union membership referendum. He was appointed Shadow Minister for Immigration by Jeremy Corbyn but resigned from this role in June 2016 as part of the wider shadow cabinet resignations in protest of Corbyn's leadership. Accepting a new post under Corbyn that year as Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, Starmer advocated a proposed second referendum on Brexit. Following Corbyn's resignation as party leader and opposition leader after Labour's defeat at the 2019 general election, Starmer succeeded him by winning the 2020 leadership election on a left-wing platform. During his time in opposition, Starmer repositioned the party away from the left and toward the political centre, and emphasised the importance of eliminating antisemitism within the party. His supporters praised him for his antisemitism reforms and for helping to improve Labour's credibility with the electorate in the aftermath of the previous leadership, while his critics accused him of unfairly treating leftist Labour members.

In July 2024, Starmer led Labour to a landslide victory in the 2024 general election, ending fourteen years of Conservative rule. He succeeded Sunak as prime minister later that day. In 2023, Starmer set out five missions for his government, targeting issues such as economic growth, health, clean energy, crime and education.

Starmer was born on 2 September 1962 in Southwark, London. He grew up in the town of Oxted in Surrey. He was the second of the four children of Josephine (née Baker), a nurse, and Rodney Starmer, a toolmaker. His mother had Still's disease. His parents were Labour Party supporters, and reportedly named him after the party's first parliamentary leader, Keir Hardie, though Starmer said in 2015 that he did not know whether this is true.

He passed the 11-plus examination and gained entry to Reigate Grammar School, then a voluntary aided selective grammar school. The school was 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. The subjects that he chose for specialist study in his last two years at school were mathematics, music and physics, in which he achieved A level grades of B, B and C. Among his classmates were the musician Norman Cook, alongside whom Starmer took violin lessons; Andrew Cooper, who went on to become a Conservative peer; and the future conservative journalist Andrew Sullivan. According to Starmer, he and Sullivan "fought over everything ... Politics, religion. You name it."

In his teenage years, Starmer was active in Labour politics; he was a member of the Labour Party Young Socialists at the age of 16. He was a junior exhibitioner at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama until the age of 18, and played the flute, piano, recorder, and violin. In the early 1980s, Starmer was caught by police illegally selling ice creams while trying to raise money during a holiday to the French Riviera. He escaped the incident without punishment, beyond the ice creams being confiscated. Starmer studied law at the University of Leeds, becoming a member of the university's Labour Club and graduating with first class honours and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree in 1985, becoming the first member of his family to graduate. He undertook postgraduate studies at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, graduating from the University of Oxford as a Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) in 1986. From 1986 to 1987, Starmer served as the editor of Socialist Alternatives, a Trotskyist radical magazine. The magazine was produced by an organisation under the same name, which represented the British section of the International Revolutionary Marxist Tendency (IRMT).

Barrister

Starmer became a barrister in 1987 at the Middle Temple, becoming a bencher there in 2009. He served as a legal officer for the campaign group Liberty until 1990. Starmer was a member of Doughty Street Chambers from 1990 onwards, primarily working on human rights issues. He was called to the bar in several Caribbean countries, where he defended convicts sentenced to the death penalty. In 1999, Starmer was a junior barrister on Lee Clegg's appeal. Starmer assisted Helen Steel and David Morris in the McLibel case, in the trial and appeal in English courts, also represented them at the European court. Starmer was appointed Queen's Counsel on 9 April 2002, aged 39. In the same year, he became joint head of Doughty Street Chambers. In 2005, Starmer stated "I got made a Queen’s Counsel, which is odd since I often used to propose the abolition of the monarchy".

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. 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". During the New Labour governments, Starmer marched and authored legal opinions against the Iraq War, stating in 2015 that he believed that the war was "not lawful under international law because there was no UN resolution expressly authorising it".

Director of Public Prosecutions

In July 2008, Patricia Scotland, Attorney General for England and Wales, named Starmer as the new head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Director of Public Prosecutions. He took over from Ken Macdonald, who publicly welcomed the appointment, on 1 November 2008. Starmer was considered to be bringing a focus on human rights into the legal system. In 2011, he introduced reforms that included the "first test paperless hearing". During his time in the role, Starmer dealt with a number of major cases including the Stephen Lawrence murder case.

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. During the 2011 England riots, Starmer prioritised rapid prosecutions of rioters over long sentences, which he later thought had helped to bring "the situation back under control". In February 2012, Starmer announced that Cameron–Clegg coalition cabinet member Chris Huhne would be prosecuted for perverting the course of justice, saying in relation to the case that "[w]here there is sufficient evidence we do not shy away from prosecuting politicians".

In 2013, Starmer announced changes to how sexual abuse investigations are handled in the wake of the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal and Operation Yewtree police investigation, including a panel to review historic complaints. In April 2014, Starmer recommended making the criminal justice system fit for victims. In 2022, then prime minister Boris Johnson falsely blamed Starmer for Savile not being prosecuted. Starmer was DPP in the years immediately prior to Savile's death but there is no evidence he was involved in the decision to not have him prosecuted. Johnson defended his comments but conceded that Starmer "had nothing to do personally with those decisions" by the CPS not to investigate Savile.

Starmer stepped down as Director of Public Prosecutions in November 2013, and was replaced by Alison Saunders. From 2011 to 2014, Starmer received honorary degrees from several universities, and he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to law and criminal justice.

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

Starmer was selected in December 2014 to be the Labour Party's prospective parliamentary candidate for the Labour UK constituency of Holborn and St Pancras, a safe seat, following the decision of the sitting MP Frank Dobson to retire. Starmer was elected at the 2015 general election with a majority of 17,048. He was re-elected at the 2017 general election with an increased majority of 30,509, and re-elected again at the 2019 general election but with a reduced majority of 27,763. In June 2024, Starmer was re-elected as the Labour candidate for Holborn and St Pancras at the 2024 general election.

As a backbencher, Starmer supported the unsuccessful Britain Stronger in Europe campaign in the 2016 European Union membership referendum. He became a member of the parliamentarian groups Labour Friends of Israel and Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East. 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 the party lost its second consecutive general election defeat at the 2015 general election and the Conservative Party led by David Cameron earned a small majority. Starmer ruled this out, citing his relative lack of political experience at the time. During the leadership election, Starmer supported Andy Burnham, who finished second to Jeremy Corbyn.

Shadow portfolios

Starmer was appointed to the Corbyn shadow cabinet as Shadow Minister for Immigration; part of the ministerial team for Burnham. In June 2016, Starmer resigned from this role as part of the widespread shadow cabinet resignations in protest at Corbyn's leadership; in his resignation letter he wrote that it was "simply untenable now to suggest we can offer an effective opposition without a change of leader". Following Corbyn's win in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election against Owen Smith in September, Starmer accepted a new post under Corbyn as Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, replacing Emily Thornberry. On taking up the role, Starmer resigned from a consultancy position with the law firm specialising in human rights, Mishcon de Reya, that had acted for Gina Miller in bringing legal proceedings against the government.

In his role as Shadow Brexit Secretary, Starmer questioned the government's destination for the UK outside of the European Union (EU), as well as calling for Brexit plans to be made public. On 6 December 2016, then prime minister Theresa May confirmed the publication of Brexit plans, in what some considered a victory for Starmer. He argued that the government would be needed to pass a large number of new laws quickly, or risk what he called an "unsustainable legal vacuum", if Britain left the EU without a deal. At the Labour Party Conference in September 2018, Starmer advocated for a referendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement, saying that "our options must include campaigning for a public vote, and nobody is ruling out remain as an option".

In January 2017, Starmer called for a reform to the EU free movement rules following Brexit and for a "fundamental rethink of immigration rules from start to finish". In his first interview after being appointed to the shadow cabinet, Starmer said that immigration should be reduced after Britain left the EU by "making sure we have the skills in this country". Starmer had told Politico in November 2016 that negotiations with the EU should start on the understanding that there must be "some change" to freedom of movement rules, given that remaining in the EU single market is no longer a reality.

In May 2017, Starmer said that "free movement has to go" but that it was important to allow EU citizens to migrate to the UK once they had a job offer, given the importance of immigration for the UK's economy. In the 2017 general election, Labour suffered its third consecutive general election defeat but increased its share of the vote to 40 per cent, with its 10 per cent rise their largest since the 1945 general election. Starmer was a supporter of a proposed second referendum on Brexit. This position was included as a Labour Party policy in the party's 2019 general election manifesto. In the 2019 general election, Labour suffered its fourth consecutive general election defeat and worst election defeat since 1935, with the Conservatives led by Boris Johnson earning an 80-seat majority. Following the party's defeat at the 2019 election, Corbyn announced that he would not lead Labour at the next general election. Starmer began to distance himself from Corbyn's leadership and many of the policies he put forward at the election, revealing in 2024 that he was "certain that we would lose the 2019 election".

Leader of the Opposition

On 4 January 2020, Starmer announced his candidacy for the resultant leadership election. By 8 January, it was reported that he had gained enough nominations from Labour MPs and MEPs to get onto the ballot paper, and that the trade union Unison was backing him. Unison, with 1.3 million members, said Starmer was the best placed candidate to unite the party and regain public trust. He also gained support from former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. During the leadership election, Starmer ran a left-wing platform. He positioned himself in opposition to austerity, stating that Corbyn was "right" to position Labour as the "party of anti-austerity". He indicated he will 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 governments and the justice system. Starmer was announced as the winner of the leadership contest on 4 April 2020, defeating rivals Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy, with 56.2% of the vote in the first round.

It is the honour and the privilege of my life to be elected as leader of the Labour Party. It comes at a moment like none other in our lifetime. Under my leadership we will engage constructively with the Government, not opposition for opposition's sake. Not scoring party political points or making impossible demands. But with the courage to support where that's the right thing to do. 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

Having become Leader of the Opposition amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Starmer said in his acceptance speech that he would refrain from "scoring party political points" and would work with Johnson's government "in the national interest". He later became more critical of the government's response to the pandemic following the Partygate scandal. Amid the historic number of ministers resigning from Johnson's government in July 2022, Starmer proposed a vote of no confidence in the government, stating that Johnson could not be allowed to remain in office given the large-scale revolt by his own ministers. Starmer also criticised Johnson's government, as well as the governments of his successors Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, for issues such as the Chris Pincher scandal and subsequent government crisis, the economic crisis resulting from the 2022 mini-budget and subsequent government crisis, the cost of living crisis and the National Health Service strikes and other industrial disputes and strikes.

Policies

Starmer's tenure has seen the party move closer towards the political centre. Speaking at the party's annual conference in 2021, the first time Starmer addressed the annual conference in person since becoming the leader, he presented his focus on stronger economy and tougher stances on crime, repositioning the party away from the previous leadership. By 2022, Starmer had dropped most of the socialist policies he advocated during his leadership run, including pledges made to nationalise water and energy, scrap tuition fees, and defend free movement within the EU. Starmer responded to criticism in 2023 by stating that they remained "important statements of value and principle", but cited the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the economic crisis resulting from the 2022 mini-budget as having meant that these pledges have had to be adapted.

Under Starmer's tenure, the party still supports the renationalisation of Britain's railways, and has pledged to create a publicly owned energy company, Great British Energy, to "compete with private industry and promote clean energy", differentiated from full nationalisation of the energy industry as previously pledged. In February 2023, Starmer set out five "national missions" as the basis for Labour's manifesto for the 2024 general election: achieving the highest sustained growth in the G7 by the end of his first term, establishing the UK as a "clean energy superpower" with zero-carbon electricity by 2030; enacting health and care reform, improving the justice system, and dismantling the barriers to opportunity" with education and childcare reforms. Upon becoming Labour leader, he tasked Brown with recommending British constitutional reforms. The report was published in 2022 and was endorsed and promoted by Starmer, and 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.

In November 2022, Starmer said that he would strip politicians of the power to appoint people to the House of Lords in the first term of a Labour government, adding that 'the public's faith in the political system had been undermined by successive Tory leaders handing peerages to "lackeys and donors"'. Labour's 2024 election manifesto Change, however, did not recommend abolition to the House of Lords, instead committing only to 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. Starmer's supporters have praised him for his antisemitism reforms and for helping to improve Labour's credibility with the electorate in the aftermath of the previous leadership, while his critics have accused him of unfairly treating leftist Labour members.

Antisemitism reforms

Following past accusations of antisemitism in the party during Corbyn's tenure, Starmer pledged to end antisemitism in the party during his acceptance speech, saying "Antisemitism has been a stain on our party. I have seen the grief that it's brought to so many Jewish communities. On behalf of the Labour Party, I am sorry. And I will tear out this poison by its roots and judge success by the return of Jewish members and those who felt that they could no longer support us".

In October 2020, following the release of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)'s report into antisemitism in the party, Starmer accepted its findings in full and apologised to Jews on behalf of the party. The report said that there was "a culture within the party which, at best, did not do enough to prevent antisemitism and, at worst, could be seen to accept it". The report also found that the party had broken equality laws due to the handling of antisemitism complaints. Starmer added that the findings were "hard to read" and that it had "been a day of shame for the Labour Party". Later that day, Corbyn said that the scale of antisemitism had been overstated for political reasons, and was subsequently suspended from the party; he was later expelled from Labour after standing as an independent candidate for Islington North in the 2024 general election.

In February 2023, Starmer's antisemitism reforms resulted in the party no longer being monitored by the EHRC.

Israel–Hamas war

After the 7 October attacks which began the Israel–Hamas war, Starmer expressed support for Israel, condemned Hamas terrorism, and said, "This action by Hamas does nothing for Palestinians. And Israel must always have the right to defend her people". In an interview with LBC on 11 October 2023, Starmer was asked whether it would be appropriate for Israel to totally cut off power and water supplies to the Gaza Strip, with Starmer replying that "I think that Israel does have that right" and that "obviously everything should be done within international law". On 20 October, after criticism and resignations of Labour councillors, Starmer said that he only meant that Israel had the right to defend itself. Starmer had said that a ceasefire would only benefit Hamas for future attacks, instead calling for a humanitarian pause to allow aid to reach Gaza. As of 6 November 2023, 50 of Labour's councillors had resigned over the issue.

On 16 November 2023, Starmer suffered a major rebellion when 56 of his MPs (including ten frontbenchers) defied a three-line whip in voting for a Scottish National Party (SNP) motion proposed by Stephen Flynn to support an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Prior to the vote, Starmer stated that Labour MPs with positions in his Shadow Cabinet would be sacked if they voted in favour of the ceasefire vote. This then led to the loss of ten frontbenchers, including eight shadow ministers. In December 2023, Starmer followed Sunak in changing his stance by calling for a "sustainable ceasefire" in relation to Gaza, which also came after the Foreign Secretary David Cameron's same change in position. Starmer stated his support for a "two-stage" "two-state solution". The Labour Party under Starmer suspended several parliamentary candidates and MPs, including Graham Jones, Andy McDonald, Azhar Ali and Kate Osamor, for allegedly making anti-Semitic comments about Israel during the war, or for describing its conduct as genocide. On 18 February 2024, Starmer called for a "ceasefire that lasts" and said it must "happen now", having previously refused to call for a ceasefire.

Shadow Cabinet appointments

His Shadow Cabinet appointments included MPs associated with the various wings of the party. Angela Rayner was appointed deputy labour leader and shadow deputy prime minister, while Rachel Reeves and Yvette Cooper were appointed as shadow chancellor and shadow home secretary, respectively. Former Labour leader Ed Miliband was appointed shadow energy and climate secretary. Other notable appointments included David Lammy as shadow foreign secretary and Wes Streeting as shadow health secretary. A final reshuffle of the Shadow Cabinet was undertaken in September 2023, which was described in the media as being dominated by Blairites and demoting MPs on the soft left.

Local election results and opinion polling

Starmer considered quitting after the party'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.

During Starmer's tenure, his party suffered the loss of a previously Labour seat in the 2021 Hartlepool by-election, followed by holds in the 2021 Batley and Spen by-election, 2022 Birmingham Erdington by-election and 2022 City of Chester by-election, and a gain from the Conservatives in 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. Labour made further gains in the 2024 local elections, including winning the West Midlands mayoral election.

Since the end of 2021, Labour have maintained leads in opinion polling over the Conservatives, often by very wide margins. By mid-October 2022, Labour were recording polling leads such as 36% against the Conservatives. In May 2024, Labour recorded their highest polling lead over the SNP in Scotland for a decade. Starmer has maintained a consistent lead over Sunak in leadership opinion polls, albeit not as consistent as his party's lead.

2024 general election

Starmer led his party in the 2024 general election, which he said was an "opportunity for change" and offered three reasons why voters should vote Labour, firstly to "stop the chaos", secondly "because it's time for change" and thirdly because Labour have "a long-term plan to rebuild Britain" that "is ready to go, fully-costed and fully funded". At the end of the campaign, Labour had a significant lead in polling over the Conservatives. On 2 June, Starmer pledged to reduce record high legal immigration to the UK. Net migration to the UK was 685,000 in 2023.

On 13 June, Starmer released the Labour Party manifesto Change, which focuses on economic growth, planning system reforms, infrastructure, what Starmer describes as 'clean energy', healthcare, education, childcare, and strengthening workers' rights. It pledges a new publicly owned energy company, a 'Green Prosperity Plan', reducing patient waiting times in the NHS, and renationalisation of the railway network. It includes wealth creation and 'pro-business and pro-worker' policies. The manifesto also pledged to give votes to 16 year olds, reform the House of Lords, and to tax private schools, with money generated going into improving state education. At the end of the campaign on 3 July, Labour maintained their significant lead in polling over the Conservatives.

Starmer led Labour to a landslide victory in the 2024 general election, ending fourteen years of Conservative rule. This landslide victory was similar to the one achieved by Tony Blair at the 1997 general election, the last time a Labour opposition ousted a Conservative government. In his victory speech, Starmer thanked party workers for their hard work – including nearly five years of revamping and rebranding Labour in the face of Tory dominance – and urged them to savour the moment, but warned them of challenges ahead and pledged his government would work for "national renewal":

We did it. Thank you truly... you have changed our country. Four-and-a-half years of work changing this party... this is what it is for. A changed Labour... ready to restore Britain to the service of the working people.

Entering government

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. He was driven from Buckingham Palace to Downing Street, where he was greeted by a crowd of supporters and gave his first speech as prime minister. In his speech, Starmer paid tribute to Sunak, saying "His achievement as the first British Asian Prime Minister of our country should not be underestimated by anyone" and also recognised "the dedication and hard work he brought to his leadership", but said that the people of Britain had voted for change:

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.

Cabinet

Starmer has begun selecting his cabinet ministers after his appointment as prime minister. His ministry will likely consist of Angela Rayner as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rachel Reeves as Chancellor of the Exchequer, David Lammy as Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper as Home Secretary and Wes Streeting as Health Secretary. The new government is expected to be formed from 6–7 July, with the new Parliament being called to meet on 9 July.

Starmer's politics have been described as unclear and "hard to define". When elected as Labour leader, he was widely believed to belong to the soft left of the Labour Party. However, he has since moved to the political centre-ground. The term Starmerism has been coined to refer to Starmer's political ideology, and his supporters have been called Starmerites. In June 2023, Starmer gave an interview to Time where he was asked to define Starmerism:

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.

In April 2023, Starmer gave an interview to The Economist on defining Starmerism. In this interview, two main strands of Starmerism were identified. 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" based on expanding economic productivity by increasing participation in the labour market, reforming public services, increasing state intervention, mitigating the impact of Brexit and simplifying the construction planning process.

Starmer has described the Labour Party as "deeply patriotic" and credits its most successful leaders, Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson, and Tony Blair, for policies "rooted in the everyday concerns of working people". Starmer advocates a government based on "security, prosperity and respect". In a speech on 13 May 2023, Starmer stated that,

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

Starmer met former solicitor and occupational health worker Victoria Alexander in the early 2000s while he was a senior barrister with Doughty Street Chambers. The two eventually became close, becoming engaged in 2004 and married on 6 May 2007 on the Fennes Estate in Essex. 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 the Jewish faith of their mother. As of June 2024, the couple reside in Kentish Town, north London.

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. In an interview during the 2024 general election, Starmer revealed that the thing he feared most about becoming prime minister is 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. Starmer said in a radio interview that, if elected prime minister, he would avoid working after 6 pm on Fridays in order to observe Shabbat dinners and spend time with his family.

Starmer is an atheist; he chose to take a "solemn affirmation" (rather than an oath) of allegiance to the monarch. Starmer has said that he does not believe in God but believes in the power of faith to bring people together. He and his family occasionally attend a liberal synagogue, and he stated in a 2022 interview that his children are being brought up to know the Jewish faith and background of their maternal grandparents.

Starmer is a keen footballer, having played for Homerton Academicals, a north London amateur team, and he supports Premier League side Arsenal.

• Appointed Queen's Counsel (QC) in 2002.
• Bar Council's Sydney Elland Goldsmith Award in 2005 for his outstanding contribution to pro bono work in challenging the death penalty in Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, and the Caribbean.
• Honorary Fellow of St Edmund Hall, Oxford.
• Appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2014 New Year Honours for "services to law and criminal justice".
• Sworn into the Privy Council of the United Kingdom on 19 July 2017. This enabled him to be styled "The Right Honourable".

Starmer is the author and editor of several books about criminal law and human rights, including:

• Justice in Error (1993), edited with Clive Walker, London: Blackstone, ISBN 1-85431-234-0.
• The Three Pillars of Liberty: Political Rights and Freedoms in the United Kingdom (1996), with Francesca Klug and Stuart Weir, London: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-09641-3.
• Signing Up for Human Rights: The United Kingdom and International Standards (1998), with Conor Foley, London: Amnesty International United Kingdom, ISBN 1-873328-30-3.
• Miscarriages of Justice: A Review of Justice in Error (1999), edited with Clive Walker, London: Blackstone, ISBN 1-85431-687-7.
• European Human Rights Law: the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights (1999), London: Legal Action Group, ISBN 0-905099-77-X.
• Criminal Justice, Police Powers and Human Rights (2001), with Anthony Jennings, Tim Owen, Michelle Strange, and Quincy Whitaker, London: Blackstone, ISBN 1-84174-138-8.
• Blackstone's Human Rights Digest (2001), with Iain Byrne, London: Blackstone, ISBN 1-84174-153-1.
• A Report on the Policing of the Ardoyne Parades 12 July 2004 (2004), with Jane Gordon, Belfast: Northern Ireland Policing Board.