From life above a ‘brothel’ to resignation thoughts, meet the real Keir Starmer
When Sir Keir Starmer’s father was rushed to hospital in November 2018, his son, then Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary, dropped everything and came to his side. Rodney Starmer, formerly a toolmaker, was a complex man: intimidating to some, stand-offish to others, though acknowledged by those who knew him to have a good heart. Complex, too, was the father-son relationship. At times, as the family drove north from Surrey for their Lake District holidays, young Keir and his father had sat in silence after the others had dozed off.
By 2018, Keir was a knight, Queen’s Counsel, and closer than ever (he hoped) to Downing Street, but little on this front had changed. As he tells his biographer, Tom Baldwin: “We hadn’t hugged each other for years… I thought about trying to put my arms around him in the hospital room but – no – it wasn’t what we did.” Rodney Starmer died shortly afterwards. Sir Keir regrets to this day that he walked away, and didn’t tell his father how much he meant to him.
This story, told with sensitivity and simplicity, offers readers of Keir Starmer: The Biography an insight into the question voters across Britain will ask this year: who really is our possible – bookmakers would say “probable” – next prime minister? Across 388 pages, Baldwin attempts to unpack that question, leaning on unparalleled access to Sir Keir and his inner circle (“100 hours of interviews,” say HarperCollins) to flesh out a public figure who came late to Parliament, and has been reluctant to open up about his private life.
The book was initially being written by Sir Keir himself, we’re told in the introduction, with Baldwin’s “help”; the newish Labour leader, who had taken over from Jeremy Corbyn in 2020, was seeking to describe his route into politics on his own terms. But cold feet struck as the political landscape shifted, Labour suddenly propelled into a poll lead and within touching distance of power, and Baldwin stepped in under his own name. A former political editor of The Times, he has the journalistic skills, and his prose is engaging and fluid.
Unusually for a political biographer, however, he has also previously declared his hand. Baldwin was one of Ed Miliband’s most senior communications advisers during the latter’s Labour leadership. None of this is hidden from the readers: some of the footnotes even flag up potential conflicts, as when, as a spinner for the EU “second referendum” campaign, he met with Sir Keir to try to gain his support. But it does shape the way the narrative is consumed, and it sits at the back of your mind.
On the positive side, we hear the story from those who know the facts first-hand. Sir Keir himself is quoted frequently and candidly, which is most effective in the sections on his childhood. His adoration of his mother, Jo, a nurse whose energy and warmth were undimmed by the Still’s disease that would lead to the use of a wheelchair, shines through. The assumption of responsibility at home throughout his school years, Baldwin suggests, may also help to explain the Labour leader’s sober, sincere, public service-minded approach today.
The book argues that Sir Keir had a more working-class upbringing than any recent predecessor. Rodney, whose relationship with his son comes across as pivotal, resented how working with his hands was looked down upon by others. Friends, relatives and colleagues all open up about Rodney’s eldest son, the lad with the quick mind and sharp hair. There are stories of riotous parties in a north London flat situated above a suspected brothel – Sir Keir gave some of the employees legal advice – which sounds more like a squat than a home-from-home. (Sir Keir jokes that living above a massage parlour at least meant “we didn’t have the kind of neighbours who would complain too much about the floors shaking or people arriving and leaving late at night”.)
It’s sometimes said in Westminster that Sir Keir is a man of hidden shallows, a politician whose genuine enjoyment of a pint and the football can be missed by some voters who see a comfortable lawyer in an ivory tower. Baldwin’s book reinforces that. Sir Keir has been a long-time season-ticket holder at Arsenal, a fervent football player since the school playground and now into his sixties, and a party leader who still sometimes texts friends on a Friday night when he can’t make it to the pub.
Another theme that rings out loud and clear is the Labour leader’s fierce competitiveness and determination to win. Shortly after becoming an MP in 2015, Sir Keir spent every Budget day meticulously going through the Red Book, imagining what he would have done if in power. And there are a few revelations: we learn that Sir Keir wanted to resign after Labour was hammered in the council elections and lost the Hartlepool by-election in May 2021, just a year into his leadership. Sue Gray gives her first interview after becoming his chief-of-staff, too, describing her “heartbreak” at the ‘Partygate’ scenes she uncovered when investigating Boris Johnson’s Downing Street.
One nagging question, though, remains. Would a former Miliband spin-doctor, who took on a project started by the Labour leader who’s also its subject, have forensically interrogated any less laudable aspects of Sir Keir’s story? Would any points of potential criticism have been doggedly pursued and pushed into the light – not least in an election year – as a biographer with no party affiliation might have done? Baldwin doesn’t ignore the obvious controversies: Sir Keir’s legal work advising criminals and terrorists – a Conservative attack line – and accusations that he’s too uninspiring to be prime minister are explored at length. But the question, to my mind, isn’t settled.
Still, the picture painted of Sir Keir’s motivations and make-up is skilfully done, with all the nuance kept in; and there’s plenty in Keir Starmer: The Biography to engage any reader hoping to understand the man who may be running Britain come the end of the year.
Keir Starmer: The Biography is published by HarperCollins at ￡25. To order your copy for ￡19.99, call 0844 871 1514 or visit Telegraph Books