Keir Starmer
Sir Keir Rodney Starmer KCB QC (born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and former lawyer who has served as Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition since 2020. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015. Ideologically, Starmer has been described as being on the soft left within the Labour Party.
Keir Starmer | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2017 | |
| Leader of the Opposition | |
| Assumed office 4 April 2020 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | Jeremy Corbyn |
| Leader of the Labour Party | |
| Assumed office 4 April 2020 | |
| Deputy | Angela Rayner |
| General Secretary | Jennie Formby David Evans |
| Chair | Angela Rayner Anneliese Dodds |
| Preceded by | Jeremy Corbyn |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union | |
| In office 6 October 2016 – 4 April 2020 | |
| Leader | Jeremy Corbyn |
| Preceded by | Emily Thornberry |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Shadow Minister for Immigration | |
| In office 14 September 2015 – 27 June 2016 | |
| Leader | Jeremy Corbyn |
| Preceded by | David Hanson |
| Succeeded by | Afzal Khan |
| Member of Parliament for Holborn and St Pancras | |
| Assumed office 7 May 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Frank Dobson |
| Majority | 27,763 (48.9%) |
| 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 Southwark, London, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse(s) | Victoria Alexander
(m. 2007) |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Reigate Grammar School Guildhall School of Music and Drama |
| Alma mater | |
| Signature |  |
| Website | Official website |
Starmer was born in London and raised in Surrey, where he attended the selective state Reigate Grammar School, which became an independent school while he was a student. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws 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 qualifying for the bar, Starmer acted exclusively as a defence lawyer, specialising in human rights issues as a member of Doughty Street Chambers, before being named a Queen's Counsel (QC) in 2002. In 2008, he became Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), holding these roles until 2013. On conclusion of his five-year term as Director of Public Prosecutions, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2014 New Year Honours.
Elected to the House of Commons in the 2015 general election, Starmer became Shadow Minister for Immigration in 2015 before being appointed to the Shadow Cabinet in October 2016 as Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union after Britain voted to leave the European Union. Starmer advocated a second referendum on Brexit, saying he would have voted to remain. After Labour's defeat in the 2019 general election, Starmer was elected to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader in April 2020. Starmer's tenure as leader has been marked by his opposition to some of the Conservative government's COVID-19 pandemic measures, and has included removing the party whip from his predecessor. During Starmer's tenure, Labour suffered a by-election loss of the previously Labour seat Hartlepool, followed by holds in Batley and Spen and Birmingham Erdington. Labour received mixed to poor results in the 2021 local elections, followed by gains in the 2022 local elections.