Keir Starmer Sir Keir Starmer since 5 July 2024 Government of the United Kingdom Prime Minister's Office Cabinet Office Style Prime Minister (informal) The Right Honourable (formal) His Excellency (diplomatic) Type Head of government Status Chief Minister of the Crown Great Office of State Member of Cabinet Privy Council British–Irish Council National Security Council PM and Heads of Devolved Governments Council Reports to Monarch Parliament Residence 10 Downing Street (official) Chequers (country house) Appointer The Monarch (with their choice limited to the person who can command the confidence of the House of Commons) Term length At His Majesty's pleasure First holder Sir Robert Walpole Deputy No fixed position; often held by: Deputy Prime Minister First Secretary of State Salary £166,786 per annum (2024) (including £91,346 MP salary) Assumed office 5 July 2024 Monarch Charles III Deputy Angela Rayner Preceded by Rishi Sunak Leader of the Opposition In office 4 April 2020 – 5 July 2024 Monarchs Elizabeth II Charles III Prime Minister Boris Johnson Liz Truss Rishi Sunak Deputy Angela Rayner Preceded by Jeremy Corbyn Succeeded by Rishi Sunak Leader of the Labour Party Incumbent Assumed office 4 April 2020 Deputy Angela Rayner Preceded by Jeremy Corbyn Shadow portfolios Member of Parliament for Holborn and St Pancras Incumbent Assumed office 7 May 2015 Preceded by Frank Dobson Majority 11,572 (30.0%) Director of Public Prosecutions In office 1 November 2008 – 1 November 2013 Appointed by Patricia Scotland Preceded by Ken Macdonald Succeeded by Alison Saunders Personal details Born Keir Rodney Starmer 2 September 1962 (age 61) London, England Political party Labour Spouse Victoria Alexander ​(m. 2007)​ Children 2 Starmer met Victoria Alexander, then a solicitor, in the early 2000s while he was a senior barrister with Doughty Street Chambers and they were working on the same case. 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. Until moving to Downing Street, the couple resided 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 he would try to avoid working after 6 p.m. 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. Residences 10 Downing Street, London Chequers, Aylesbury Education Reigate Grammar School University of Leeds (LLB) St Edmund Hall, Oxford (BCL) Occupation Politicianbarrister Signature Website keirstarmer.com 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. While at Doughty Street Chambers, he met his future wife, Victoria Alexander, a solicitor who was working on the same case. Starmer 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". 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 as opposition leader, 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. Entering Government: In July 2024, Starmer led Labour to a landslide victory in the 2024 general election, ending fourteen years of Conservative government with Labour becoming the largest party in the House of Commons. 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. You campaigned for it, you fought for it, you voted for it and now it has arrived. Change begins now. And it feels good, I have to be honest. Four-and-a-half years of work changing the party. This is what it is for – a changed Labour Party ready to serve our country, ready to restore Britain to the service of working people. We said we would end the chaos and we will. We said we would turn the page and we have. Today we start the next chapter, begin the work of change, the mission of national renewal and start to rebuild our country.