Keir Starmer

The Right Honourable Sir
Keir Starmer
KCB KC
The Right Honourable Sir Keir Starmer KCB KC
	Official portrait, 2017
Leader of the Opposition
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 4 April 2020
Monarchs	Elizabeth II; Charles III;
Prime Minister	Boris Johnson; Liz Truss; Rishi Sunak;
Deputy	Angela Rayner
Preceded by	Jeremy Corbyn
Leader of the Labour Party
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 4 April 2020
Deputy	Angela Rayner
Preceded by	Jeremy Corbyn
2016–2020
Shadow portfolios
Shadow Secretary of State
2016–2020	Exiting the European Union
Shadow Minister
2015–2016	Immigration
Member of Parliament; for Holborn and St Pancras;
	In office; 7 May 2015 – 30 May 2024^
Preceded by	Frank Dobson
Majority	27,763 (48.9%)
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
Education	University of Leeds (LLB); University of Oxford (BCL);
Occupation	Politician; barrister;
Signature
Website	keirstarmer.com

Sir Keir Rodney Starmer^[a] KCB KC (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 was Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras from 2015 to 2024, and was previously Director of Public Prosecutions and Head of the Crown Prosecution Service from 2008 to 2013. He ideologically identifies as progressive and as a centrist.

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 was politically active from an early age, joining the Labour Party Young Socialists at the age of 16. Starmer 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. He served as a human rights adviser to the Northern Ireland Policing Board and was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 2002, later citing his work on policing in Northern Ireland as being a key influence on his decision to pursue a political career. During his time as Director of Public Prosecutions, Starmer dealt with a number of major cases including the Stephen Lawrence murder case. 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.

Starmer was elected to the House of Commons at the 2015 general election for the Labour constituency of Holborn and St Pancras. As a backbencher, Starmer supported the unsuccessful Britain Stronger in Europe campaign in the 2016 European Union membership referendum. He was appointed Shadow Minister for Immigration by Jeremy Corbyn, but resigned from this role in June 2016 as part of the wider shadow cabinet resignations in protest of Corbyn's leadership. Starmer accepted a new post under Corbyn that year as Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, and advocated a proposed second referendum on Brexit. Following Corbyn's resignation after the party lost the 2019 general election, Starmer won the 2020 party leadership election to succeed him on a left-wing platform.

Under his leadership, Starmer has repositioned the party away from the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn and towards the political centre. He has emphasised the importance of eliminating antisemitism within the party. In 2023, Starmer set out five missions for a Labour government, targeting issues such as economic growth, health, clean energy, crime, and education. Since 2021, the party has maintained leads in opinion polling over the governing Conservative Party, often by very wide margins, and made significant gains in the 2023 and 2024 local elections and has led the party into the 2024 general election.

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[a]