Keir Starmer, the Labour Party leader, secured a landslide victory Thursday in the UK elections and is set to become the first Labour Prime Minister since 2010.
Starmer has been the Leader of Opposition in the UK Parliament for the last four years and mainly led the social democratic party from the left towards the political middle ground. He is credited with reviving the Labour Party after its worst election defeat since the 1930s. Starmer, who entered the Parliament merely a decade ago, not only made the party electable but also pulled it to the centre on key policies by slamming the failings of three Conservative Prime Ministers, a New York Times report said.
He was up against Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who tried hard to keep his Conservative Party in power despite the voter fatigue arising from the 14-year Tory rule.
Not being known as a firebrand politician, Starmer, according to an AP report, is "dutiful, managerial and a bit dull".
“He doesn’t do the performative side of politics,” Tom Baldwin, a former Labour Party adviser was quoted as saying by NYT.
Starmer stresses his humble roots
Unlike the previous British leaders, Starmer emphasises on his humble roots. Brought up in a working-class family in Surrey outside London, Starmer's childhood was not easy. Born in 1963, his father was a toolmaker and had a distant relationship with him. His mother, a nurse, suffered from chronic illness Still's disease (a rare type of inflammatory arthritis).
Starmer had earlier said that visiting her in the hospital and helping to care for her helped form his strong support for the state-funded National Health Service (NHS), according to AP.
He was the first in his family to graduate, first from Leeds University and then in law from Oxford. He attended Reigate Grammar School and had his fees paid by the local council until age 16.
Besides being passionate about law, Starmer is a football fanatic who still manages to play the sport on weekends and ardently follows Premier League club Arsenal. His wife Victoria, who comes from a Jewish family in London, works in occupational health and they have teen kids.
Innings as a lawyer
In 1987, he became a lawyer, focusing on human rights and he travelled to the Caribbean and Africa, where he argued for prisoners who faced the death penalty. He extended free services to "McLibel" activists who were pursued by McDonald's for issuing leaflets critiquing the fast food giant's environmental claims. His stints as a lawyer also include his role as the Director of Public Prosecutions, the most senior criminal prosecutor in England and Wales.
Made entry into Parliament in 2015
Starmer's reputation as a lawyer helped him make his way into politics in his 50s. He was elected to Parliament as MP for Holborn and St Pancras in North London in 2015. During his tenure as shadow Brexit secretary for then Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, Starmer had said holding a second European Union referendum should be considered, according to the BBC.
According to the UK Parliament website, Starmer served as shadow minister of the Home Office from 2015 to 2016 and was a member of the Home Affairs Committee from July 2015 to October 2015.
Differences with Jeremy Corbyn
He often clashed with Corbyn and even quit the party's top position. He later assumed the role of the party's Brexit spokesman under Corbyn.
After Corbyn lost elections in 2019, Starmer took charge of the party and even dropped his predecessor's proposal to nationalise the energy industry. He promised not to increase taxes on the working class and pledged support for the military, which contrasted with the Labour Party's anti-patriotic image. He had even apologised for antisemitism.
When Starmer assumed the party leadership, the country was going through stormy times—the COVID-19 pandemic, the exit from the EU, the economic troubles that followed Liz Truss's 49-day rule, and the economic impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Starmer's key poll promises are as follows:
Health: Starmer proposes to slash the NHS list by giving 40,000 more weekly appointments, financed by tackling tax avoidance and ending tax loopholes.
Immigration: Starmer plans to start a 'border security command' to stop smugglers from arranging small boat crossings.
Housing: Starmer aims to boost first-time buyers by introducing a scheme to give them "first dibs" on new housing developments. He also promises 1.5 million new homes by reforming planning laws.
Education: According to the BBC, Starmer promises to recruit 6,500 teachers and pay them by ending tax breaks for private schools.
With inputs from AP
