The subject of this article is standing for re-election to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom on 4 July, and has not been an incumbent MP since Parliament was dissolved on 30 May. Some parts of this article may be out of date during this period. |
Keir Starmer | |||||||||||||
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Leader of the Opposition | |||||||||||||
Assumed office 4 April 2020 | |||||||||||||
Monarchs | |||||||||||||
Prime Minister | |||||||||||||
Deputy | Angela Rayner | ||||||||||||
Preceded by | Jeremy Corbyn | ||||||||||||
Leader of the Labour Party | |||||||||||||
Assumed office 4 April 2020 | |||||||||||||
Deputy | Angela Rayner | ||||||||||||
General Secretary | |||||||||||||
Chair |
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Preceded by | Jeremy Corbyn | ||||||||||||
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In office 7 May 2015 – 30 May 2024[1] | |||||||||||||
Preceded by | Frank Dobson | ||||||||||||
Succeeded by | TBC | ||||||||||||
Director of Public Prosecutions | |||||||||||||
In office 1 November 2008 – 1 November 2013 | |||||||||||||
Appointed by | The Baroness Scotland of Asthal | ||||||||||||
Preceded by | Ken Macdonald | ||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Alison Saunders | ||||||||||||
Personal details | |||||||||||||
Born | Keir Rodney Starmer 2 September 1962 London, England | ||||||||||||
Political party | Labour | ||||||||||||
Spouse |
Victoria Alexander (m. 2007) | ||||||||||||
Children | 2 | ||||||||||||
Education | Reigate Grammar School | ||||||||||||
Alma mater | |||||||||||||
Signature | |||||||||||||
Website | keirstarmer | ||||||||||||
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Sir Keir Rodney Starmer KCB KC (/ˈkɪər/ ; born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and barrister who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015, and was previously Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013. He ideologically identifies as progressive and as being part of the centre-ground.
Starmer was born in London and raised in Surrey, where he attended the selective state Reigate Grammar School, which became a private school while he was a student. 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 matters. Becoming a member of Doughty Street Chambers in 1990, he was appointed as Queen's Counsel (QC) in 2002. In 2008, he became Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Head of the Crown Prosecution Service, holding these positions until 2013. On conclusion of his five-year term as DPP, 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.
Elected to the House of Commons at the 2015 general election, Starmer was appointed Shadow Minister for Immigration by new party leader Jeremy Corbyn in September 2015. He resigned in 2016 as part of the wider June 2016 shadow cabinet resignations in protest at Corbyn's leadership, but accepted a new post under Corbyn later that year as Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union following the EU membership referendum. Starmer advocated a second referendum on Brexit, in which he stated he would vote to "remain"; this policy was ultimately included in the 2019 Labour election platform.
After the Labour Party was defeated at the 2019 general election, Corbyn resigned as Leader of the Labour Party; in April 2020, Starmer was elected to replace him. His leadership has been characterised by movement towards the political centre and abandonment of much of the left-wing platform of his leadership campaign, as well as by opposition to some of the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic and issues such as Partygate, the September 2022 mini-budget, and the cost of living crisis. Starmer has emphasised the importance of eliminating antisemitism in the Labour Party. In 2023, he set out five missions for a Labour government, targeting issues such as economic growth, health, clean energy, crime, and education. Since late 2021, the party has maintained leads in opinion polling over the governing Conservative Party, often by very wide margins. Starmer was included in the New Statesman's Left Power List 2023, alongside his shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves and deputy leader Angela Rayner, and was described as the overwhelming favourite to be the next Prime Minister.
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