As indicated by electoral polls, the Labour Party won the UK general election this Thursday (4), removing the Conservatives from power after 14 years, in the worst defeat in over 100 years for the right.
Keir Starmer, 61, who describes himself as a socialist, was chosen as the new prime minister to replace Rishi Sunak, who suffered the setback after bringing forward the election to this month amid a small improvement in the UK’s economic indicators in May.
“I would describe myself as a socialist. I would describe myself as a progressive. I would describe myself as someone who puts my country first and my party second,” he said in an interview with the broadcaster BBC.
The new leader in charge of forming a government in the United Kingdom is known for being a discreet and difficult man to describe – a biographer and journalists who have followed him in recent years have not been able to fully decipher his personality.
Starmer was born in 1962 in Surrey, south of London, a traditionally bourgeois and conservative area, where he always felt, according to his biography, “a little out of place”.
The figure of his father, a craftsman with strong leftist convictions, is of capital importance in explaining his political profile.
The new prime minister studied at a grammar school (public schools for excellent students), and later attended the University of Leeds and Oxford, where he began his work in the defense of human rights.
From a young age he flirted with the more radical branches of the Labour Party, going so far as to proclaim in a job interview for a law firm that “property is theft” – although he later acknowledged that this was a provocation.
He became head of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in 2008, after having built a reputation as a human rights lawyer.
Six years later, he left the public sector to make the leap into politics as a Labour candidate and quickly caught the attention of his predecessor, the staunch socialist Jeremy Corbyn, who brought him into his team, first as spokesman for immigration and then for Brexit. Starmer advocated holding a second referendum on the issue.
In 2015, Starmer entered Parliament as MP for Holborn and St Pancras, London boroughs.
After Corbyn resigned in 2019 following Labour’s worst defeat since 1935, Starmer stood as a unity candidate in the primaries and was elected to rebuild the party – the former leader had divided the party between moderates and leftists.
From then on, he did not hesitate to purge Corbyn for his inaction against anti-Semitism and to laminate the entire critical sector.
Starmer has spent the past four years as Labour leader moving his party from the left to the middle ground. During his campaign against Sunak, he argued that a vote for the party would be “a vote for economic and political stability” amid a weak economic recovery.
Despite presenting himself as a left-wing option, the winner of the elections is not well regarded by part of the group that accuses him of approaching “right-wing proposals” in order to get elected. Fiscal discipline and strict accounting are seen as highlights of his political message.
The new prime minister has already made changes to his campaign promises. He withdrew his proposal to nationalize sanitation and energy companies, but maintained his plan to place practically all passenger rail companies under public control over the next five years.
Furthermore, he broke his promise to remove tuition fees from British students, justifying his decision based on the current economic situation in the United Kingdom. According to the Labour Party, “the government cannot afford to pay for the program.”
Starmer, on the other hand, said Labour would levy a tax on private school fees.
During Corbyn’s leadership, he acted as a spokesperson for Brexit, advocating for a new referendum on the issue. Now, he says he can no longer go back on his decision, but will seek new cooperation agreements with the European Union (EU).
First politician with the title of “knight” to assume power in half a century
Labour’s Keir Starmer on Friday (5) became the first politician with the title of ”sir” (knight) to take office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since Conservative Alec Douglas-Home in 1963.
Other former heads of government received this title or that of lord as soon as they left power, as was the case with David Cameron (lord), Tony Blair (sir) and John Major (sir).
Starmer was awarded the honorary title by the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2014 for his “services to law and criminal justice” during his time as attorney general between 2008 and 2013.
Among other duties, the labor leader had distinguished work as a prosecutor in cases involving trials of terrorists and organized crime gangs.
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