Inside Keir Starmer’s family life from wife Victoria to toolmaker dad
With the Labour Party winning the General Election in a major landslide and Keir Starmer giving a triumphant victory speech, it’s not surprising that interest in the new prime minister is increasing.
Starmer was first elected as the MP for Holborn and St Pancras in 2015, and he became leader of the Labour Party in 2020 after Jeremy Corbyn stood down following dismal 2019 election results.
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During his campaign, the Labour leader has been keen to make clear that he is an ordinary man from a working-class family.
This is in direct contrast with Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak, who was recently revealed to be richer than King Charles when combined with his wife.
So who exactly is Keir Starmer, who are his parents, and how did he grow up?
Who are Keir Starmer’s parents?
Keir Starmer was born on September 2, 1962, to parents Josephine Starmer (née Baker) and Rodney Starmer. He’s the second of four children.
His mum was a nurse and his dad worked as a toolmaker, but Josephine was forced to give up her job after being diagnosed with Still’s Disease, an autoimmune condition.
Both of his parents have passed away, his mother shortly before he was elected to parliament in 2015, and his father in 2018.
Starmer has previously spoken of his regret at not being close with his father, who he described as ‘difficult’ and ‘complicated’.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, he said his dad would work for 14-hour days, coming home ‘for his tea’ at 5pm before returning to work after an hour.
But he also said his dad had an ‘utter devotion and commitment’ to his mum.
Growing up in the small town of Oxted in Surrey, his parents were Labour Party supporters.
He was the first member of his family to graduate from university with first-class honours and a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1985.
He worked as Director of Public Prosecutions – the head of the Crown Prosecution Service – between 2008 and 2013, and he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath following his five-year term.
Did his father own a factory?
Starmer has often spoken of his dad Rodney’s toolmaking profession and said it gave him ‘a deep respect for the dignity of work’.
There has been much speculation that Rodney actually owned the toolmaking factory at which he worked rather than just being an employee, calling into question Starmer’s working-class credentials.
He has never addressed this speculation – some of which ran rife in political cartoons poking fun at the Labour leader – but thus far there’s no definitive proof that Rodney wasn’t the working-class man his son claims he was.
Who is Keir Starmer’s wife and what is her job at the NHS?
Victoria Starmer married Keir Starmer in 2007. They share two children, a son and a daughter.
Her father is a practicing Jew and she is raising both of their children in the Jewish faith, though neither parent says they are particularly religious.
She previously worked as a solicitor, and the couple met when she drew up documents for a case Keir was working on.
She currently works in the NHS in occupational health, which the Labour leader referenced in the first ITV debate.
Where does Keir Starmer live?
Starmer and his wife Victoria Alexander live in his constituency in Kentish Town, North West London, together with their son and daughter.
They live in a £1.75million house in Camden and raised both of their children vegetarian, only allowing them the choice of eating meat for the first time when they turned 10.
Starmer’s kids have never been publicly named, presumably to protect their privacy.
Mr Starmer married solicitor Victoria in 2007, after meeting while he was still working in the legal profession.
According to The Camden New Journal, the pair met when she was working for a firm preparing case files for Mr Starmer before he went into court.
He was born in Southwark, South London, but grew up in Oxted in Surrey.
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