Who Is Keir Starmer, The 'Unflashy' Labour Leader Of Britain (image@Keri_Starmer)
Keir Starmer made it his mission to make his party “electable”, after it faced its worst election defeat in 85 years, during the 2020 general election. Four years later, and after 14 years of rule by its rival Conservative party, Labour Party is all set for a landslide victory, with Starmer at van guard.
Projections are showing that Starmer will bring in the party’s largest majority after former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s 179-seat majority in 1997. Exit polls showed that its not really about if Starmer will win or not, its all about how wide the margin would be.
Starmer commented, “Tonight people here and around the country have spoken. And they’re ready for change”.
The 61-year-old Starmer has faced years of criticism for his said lack of charisma. However, the Labour leader’s methodical mission to bring his party to the centre of British politics and broaden its appeal to voters, seems to have worked in his favour.
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Starmer and his party invested in the mounting economic crisis and political chaos under the Conservative party, make steer the political climate in their favour.
John Curtice, a political analyst and elections expert who, through decades of TV commentary has grown to be of a British national institution himself, told the BBC that, “there was more chance of lightning striking twice in the same place”, than incumbent Rishi Sunak retaining the seat.
Hailed from a small town in Surrey, Starmer is a knighted (a title that is given to a man by a British king or queen for his achievements or his service to his country lawyer. was born to a mother who worked for the National Health Service, Britain’s free public health care system, and his father was a toolmaker. Starmer has repeated this during his campaign so often that it became a meme.
Starmer was the first in his family to go to university. He helped run a left-wing magazine called Socialist Alternatives. He then became a lawyer, rising up the ranks to become the head of public prosecutions in 2008, running the British government’s Crown Prosecution Service. Starmer received his knighthood in 2014, a year before he stepped in to politics.
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However, despite his rich background in tackling serious crime, the Labour leader has never managed to shake the image of being a “boring” politician.
Starmer tried to make his party more electable by sweeping out individuals seen as entrenched in its socialist left wing — the faction that ran the party under its previous leader, Jeremy Corbyn (whose cabinet Starmer served in, incidentally).
After Corbyn called the findings of an inquiry into antisemitism in the party “dramatically overstated,” Starmer suspended him. Speaking about it, Starmer told Esquire that, “sometimes you have to be ruthless to be a good leader”.
Starmer irked many of the left-leaning members of his party and others by backtracking on several key pledges of the party, including that Labour would increase income tax, scrap university tuition fees and nationalize the majority of Britain’s public services.
Starmer’s public mantra has been, “country before party”.
During a speech recently, Starmer said he had a long-term “big, bold plan” for Britain. But he cautioned that “we need first steps”. He said his unflashy election pledges were a “down payment” on what the Labour Party can offer Britain if it is given enough time. “I’m not going to make a promise before the election that I’m not comfortable we can actually deliver”, he said.
