Sir Keir Starmer: The former prosecutor who abolished death sentences and became the leader of the UK’s ‘most working class’.

The Labour leader is one of four children from a family in Oxted, on the border between Kent and Surrey. According to BBCHis father was a toolmaker and his mother was a nurse who suffered from a debilitating arthritis known as Still’s disease.

It was the hardships he faced as a child and young adult that made Keir Starmer think about the working class. In the 1970s, during high inflation in the UK, the family found themselves in several debts.

“If you’re working class, you’re afraid of debt. My mother and father were afraid of debt, so they picked a bill they didn’t want to pay. It was the phone bill,” he recalls.

Thanks to his academic prestige, Keir Starmer was able to attend an elite grammar school and was the first in his family to go to college.

Career
Early in his career, Keir Starmer joined Doughty Street Chambers, renowned for taking on major and controversial human rights cases. He fought against the death penalty in Commonwealth countries, defending what some tabloids called “baby killers and axe murderers”.

Starmer was even part of the legal team that succeeded in getting Uganda’s Constitutional Court to overturn the convictions of all 417 people on death row.

The lawyer also worked for a pair of vegan anarchists who distributed leaflets accusing McDonald’s of low wages, animal cruelty and supporting deforestation. The company sued them for libel, and the case and numerous appeals lasted ten years, making it one of the longest legal battles in British history. It ended in a sort of “draw”.

The Labour leader surprised and upset some colleagues when he became the country’s chief prosecutor. Keir Starmer led Britain’s first prosecution of al-Qaeda terrorists and brought charges against Conservative and Labour politicians involved in a high-profile expenses scandal that was first exposed in the press.

He was knighted in 2014 in recognition of his work in the Crown Prosecution Service. Starmer’s former ally Philippa Kaufmann says “the law will never be enough for him”.

Political career
Keir Starmer entered politics at 52 when he was elected to represent the London borough of Holborn and St Pancras in 2015, serving as a “shadow minister” in opposition, tasked with negotiating Labour’s shaky position on Brexit.

“What Keir has done is to exclude the entire left from the Labour Party. He has presented a brilliant set of values, principles and ways of moving Britain forward that are entirely consistent with my views as a commercial capitalist,” he said. BBC Billionaire businessman John Caudwell, previously a major Conservative donor.

Future Prospects
Starmer’s supporters believe the Labour leader will be a “transformational” prime minister.

According to some sources, Starmer believes in pragmatism, in developing policy through problem solving rather than through grand theories.

Left-wing critics suspect Starmer will not be bold. “He seems to reflect the ideas of the people around him,” said James Schneider, a former director of strategic communications for the Labour Party.

“It’s like a middle manager reprimanding his employees or an unpopular stepfather who has lost control of his children,” he said.

Prime Minister’s Successor Richer Than Royal Family
The Labour Party has gone from a historic defeat in the 2019 general election to winning an absolute majority in 2024. Keir Starmer will become the leader of the “most working class” in the UK, replacing a prime minister touted as richer than the royal family.