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Keir Starmer speaking to supporters in London this morning. Alamy Stock Photo

Keir Starmer: Who is the UK's new Labour prime minister?

Starmer has secured his place as PM after only nine years in politics.

The Journal / YouTube

LABOUR LEADER KEIR Starmer has led his party to a landslide win in the UK general election, taking 411 seats out of the 650 available. 

With the Conservatives registering a dismal loss of 248 seats, Rishi Sunak looks set to depart 10 Downing Street after the disappointing vote for his party. 

While the number of seats won by Labour is near-historic, it has been suggested that the win is more down to disillusionment with the Tories than a fondness for Keir Starmer and Labour. 

Who is Keir Starmer, the newly elected UK Prime Minister?

Keir Starmer has served as the leader of the opposition and leader of the Labour party since 2020.

At 61, Starmer will be be the oldest person to become British Prime Minister on first appointment since Labour’s James Callaghan in 1976.

The incoming PM was born and raised in London. His mother suffered from a rare disease which ultimately saw her pass away just before Starmer’s initial election in 2015. 

Named for Labour’s founding father Keir Hardie, who was a Scottish trade unionist before he became the party’s first leader, Starmer has played into his working class roots on the campaign trail. He used the phrase “My dad was a toolmaker, my mum was a nurse” so often that it became a running joke – one that he fully leaned into. 

Starmer attended the University of Oxford and the University of Leeds, where he pursued legal studies. He served as Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013, having been appointed during Labour’s Gordon Brown’s reign as prime minister. 

He oversaw the prosecution of MPs for abusing their expenses, journalists for phone-hacking, and young rioters involved in unrest across England.

In 2014, he received a knighthood for his work in criminal justice.

He has been an MP for Holborn and St Pancras in central London since 2015.

Starmer is a married father of two, and notoriously private of his personal life. His two teenage children remain nameless within the media, though his wife, Victoria Starmer, is known to be an occupational therapist in the NHS. 

After only nine years in politics, Starmer has now seized the majority for Labour after 14 years of Conservative rule. In the 2019 general election, just before Starmer took over leadership of the party from Jeremy Corbyn, Labour received its worst defeat since 1935.

Even supporters of Starmer and Labour admit that he is not wildly charismatic, but perhaps some of his appeal may lie here – he appears to be a sturdy, sensible presence that has clearly had great success in steering Labour back from its disastrous performance in 2019. 

Back then, Labour finished with a total of 203 seats in comparison to the Tories’ 365.

Now, Labour have pushed ahead and secured 411 seats while the Tories lag behind on 119 seats.

labour-leader-sir-keir-starmer-and-his-wife-victoria-arrive-at-the-headquarters-of-camden-council-at-5-pancras-square-in-camden-north-london-for-the-count-of-the-holborn-and-st-pancras-constituency Starmer and his wife Victoria arriving for the count of the Holborn and St Pancras constituency. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

What has Starmer done to bring Labour to success?

After taking the reins four years ago, Starmer re-centred the party from where it had moved further left under Corbyn in order to make it more electable.

In 2020, Starmer suspended left-wing socialist Corbyn from the party following his reaction to a report into antisemitism in the party during his leadership. Starmer then continued with a purge of left-wing socialism, leaving behind a number of policies as he sought to move towards centrism.

His rooting out of antisemitism within the party further helped Labour appeal to voters from a range of different areas and backgrounds

The left have accused him of betrayal for the shedding of pledges to implement policies including the scrapping of university tuition fees, increasing income tax, and nationalising a number of public services in the UK.

He also came under fire for Labour’s abandonment of its £28 billion (€33 billion) annual green investment pledge, having said the reversal was due to the Tories’ crashing of the economy. 

What do Labour plan to implement in government?

Labour have a long to-do list ahead of them as they enter parliament as government for the first time in 14 years. Among the priorities listed by the party, tackling the economy, healthcare, and immigration are high on the list. 

Labour have ruled out increasing income tax, national insurance welfare contributions and VAT sales tax – though other tax increases have yet to be ruled out. It hopes to eliminate tax breaks for non-domiciled UK residents, reduce tax avoidance and impose VAT on private school fees. 

In tackling issues facing healthcare in the UK, it says it will deliver two million more NHS appointments and promises to double the number of MRI and CT scanners in the NHS. 

Keir Starmer has pledged to ditch the Conservative plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda in his first days as leader – though Rishi Sunak has raised doubts about whether Starmer’s pledge to return failed asylum applicants to their countries will come to fruition.

With additional reporting from AFP

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    Mute Rear Admiral
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 5:29 PM

    I’ll be sending back that “Huberman’s Haemerrhoid Cream” so

    309
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    Mute Bazzle Bush
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 5:36 PM

    @Rear Admiral: No! That ones legit!

    104
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    Mute iohanx
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 5:37 PM

    @Rear Admiral: does it work?

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    Mute Shelly Levine
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 5:49 PM

    @iohanx: I’m squeaky clean. Thanks Amy!

    26
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    Mute Declan Tooher
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 6:37 PM

    Unfortunately, this is not the first scam she has been involved in. All those awful tv shows that demand you to pay a licence fee spring to mind.

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    Mute MarkS
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 6:31 PM

    Nice to see she is branching out from the weekly Irish independent mouthpiece articles that nobody cares about.

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    Mute chinaski
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    Aug 23rd 2018, 1:41 AM

    @MarkS: You beat me to it. What is it with the indos obsession with her and him?

    28
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    Mute David Quigley
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    Aug 23rd 2018, 6:35 AM

    @chinaski: The indo is a celebrity rag masquerading as a broadsheet

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    Mute Seriously stunned
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    Aug 23rd 2018, 9:00 AM

    @David Quigley: yea we love the journal.ie woo hoooo

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    Mute MarkS
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    Aug 23rd 2018, 9:30 AM

    @chinaski: she’s on some kind of weekly nonsense rotation with Vogue William’s, Amanda Brunker & Roz Purcell. Twink lost her place in the rotation last year unfortunately.

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    Mute Brian McDonnell
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 5:36 PM

    Beauty cream warns users to beware of the sham that is…….

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    Mute Tyler Williams
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 6:12 PM

    I’m not from these parts so I have absolutely no idea who she is. What is IFTA?

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    Mute TellingItAsItIs
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 6:32 PM

    @Tyler Williams: She’s a very popular average actress and also wife to a famous ex rugby player called Brian O’Driscoll. She’s also pretty and could sell ice cream to the Eskimos.

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    Mute David Grey
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 11:47 PM

    Tyler . Google

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    Mute Margate
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    Aug 23rd 2018, 12:34 AM

    @TellingItAsItIs: Very popular? Eh? Not with that many…she wings her way simply based on looks, fame, hubby etc, otherwise limited..

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    Mute Rhona Byrne
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    Aug 23rd 2018, 8:20 AM

    @Tyler Williams: Irish Film and Television Awards

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    Mute TellingItAsItIs
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    Aug 24th 2018, 5:52 PM

    @Margate: she’s also popular because she’s a very nice lady

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    Mute Tony Maguire
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 7:06 PM

    Ya can’t beat a bit of free advertising!!!

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    Mute James O'Brien
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 11:53 PM

    This is product of RTE. Labeling people as influencers. Vogue Williams will be next or Brunker

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    Mute Jaci Black
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 10:02 PM

    Stay away from the sun and eat healthily. Water is not your enemy.

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    Mute Maggie O'Sullivan
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 10:04 PM

    Total waste of money. Margarine does the same job as any of these expensive creams.

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    Mute Colette Kearns
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 9:48 PM

    Don’t waste your money on any of them, soap & water then some E45 cream ( 400 ml ) for under €10

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    Mute Rob Cahill
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    Aug 23rd 2018, 9:31 AM

    She has fans?

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    Mute Derek Walsh Ⓥ
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 8:41 PM

    What sort of idiot would be fooled by “anti-aging cream?”

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    Mute Ann Basquille Smith
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 11:49 PM

    Who are accepting these adverts

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