Who is Keir Starmer, the Labour leader and new British Prime Minister

Class of 1962, born on the outskirts of London from a family of working-class origins, Keir Starmer he is the leader of the Labour Party and the new British Prime Minister. The election results in the United Kingdom reward the left and a Labour representative returns to Downing Street after 14 years: according to the exit polls, Labour has 410 seats, a majority that allows it to govern autonomously, against the 131 of the Conservatives in a historic debacle. At 9am on Friday, Sunak, the outgoing prime minister, will be received at Buckingham Palace by King Charles. Two hours later it will be Starmer’s turn, who will ask the sovereign for permission to form the new government in his name.

Lawyer, activist, in politics for years after graduating from Oxford. He lives in Kentish Town, a chic suburb of London, but does not fail to remember his origins in the working class. His father Rod was a toolmaker in a factory and did not let him watch television. His mother Josephine was a nurse on leave due to a serious illness. His name comes from the Gaelic and means “dark”: it is the same as the Scottish miners’ leader Keir Hardie..

He has four brothers, he is the first in the family to go to university. He begins to work as a lawyer. In 1997 he meets his wife Victoria, his colleague. She is campaigning for Tony Blair. She has Jewish origins and this will play a fundamental role in the last years and in a party accused of anti-Semitism. The couple has two children protected by very strict privacy. Leader of the party since 2019, Keir Starmer chooses a personal path to revive a devastated party and to make it a possible choice for the middle class again. He goes as far as to praise Margaret Thatcher and defines Brexit, «an opportunity to be perfected».

His best quality is stability. «I am a person who, when he realizes that there is a problem, tries to solve it. Many people think that passion is about yelling and insulting. For me, it’s about fixing things, making them better.». In love with football, he supports Arsenal, but has a Dutch idol whose photo he keeps in the office, Johan Cruyff, wearing the Ajax shirt.

He has repeatedly reiterated that he wants spending time with children and overcame controversy by saying: “On Fridays, as usual, I will not do anything work-related after six in the afternoon, no matter what happens.” They accused him of being a poor worker, forgetting that his wife is Jewish. “For some religions, Friday evening is an important moment. But the desire to be with my loved ones also counts.”