Starmer, Keir << keer >> (1962-…), became prime minister of the United Kingdom in July 2024. Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party, replaced Rishi Sunak, the outgoing prime minister and the leader of the Conservative Party. Starmer has been a member of Parliament for the Holborn and St. Pancras constituency (district) of London since 2015.
Keir Rodney Starmer was born in London on Sept. 2, 1962. He grew up in the town of Oxted, in Surrey, south of Greater London. He earned a law degree from Leeds University in 1985 and a bachelor of civil laws degree from Oxford University in 1985. He became a barrister (lawyer), later specializing in human rights issues. He worked in a number of Caribbean and African countries to challenge courts’ use of capital punishment.
From 2008 to 2013, Starmer served as director of public prosecutions as head of the Crown Prosecution Service. In 2014, Queen Elizabeth II awarded Starmer a knighthood for his services to law and criminal justice. In May 2015, Starmer was elected to Parliament as the member for Holborn and St. Pancras. With the Conservative Party in power, Starmer served in the shadow (opposition party) leadership. He was shadow immigration minister in 2015 and 2016 and shadow Brexit secretary from 2016 to 2020. After Labour lost seats in 2019 elections, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn announced that he would step down as party leader. In April 2020, Starmer defeated Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy in a campaign to become leader of the Labour Party.
The Labour Party defeated the Conservative Party in national elections on July 4, 2024. Starmer became prime minister on July 5.
