- author, Kate Whannell
- role, Political reporter
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Throughout the general election campaign, and much of her husband’s time as Labour leader, Victoria Starmer kept a low profile.
Apart from attending Labour party conferences, the occasional state dinner and Taylor Swift concerts, Mrs Starmer (née Victoria Alexander) has avoided public appearances.
Asked about his wife’s low profile on LBC, Sir Keir pointed out that she works full time in an NHS hospital and their eldest son is studying for his GCSEs.
“We decided that while I was out, I wanted to create a calm and normal learning environment for my son.”
But now that Sir Keir has won the election and is prime minister, it may become harder for Mrs Starmer to avoid the spotlight.
When she first met Sir Keir in the early 2000s, he was a barrister, not a politician, and she was a lawyer working on the same case.
“I [asked the team] They told me that the person who actually created these documents was a woman called Victoria, and I said, ‘Let me give her a call.'”
He grilled her forensically in the paper, but when he hung up the phone he heard one comment from her:
“She said, ‘Who the hell do you think he is?’ and hung up on me,” Sir Keir said. “And absolutely so.”
Image source, Keir Starmer/Tom Baldwin
Although things didn’t go well at first, their relationship blossomed after their first date at the Lord Stanley pub in Camden, north London.
Sir Keir described her to biographer Tom Baldwin as “down to earth, sassy, funny, worldly and very beautiful”.
He proposed just a few months later while on holiday in Greece.
“You don’t need a ring, do you, Kiir?” was her practical response.
The couple married at Fennes House in Essex in 2007, walking down the aisle to the second movement of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, one of Sir Keir’s favourite pieces.
He later described her on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs as “an incredibly warm, wonderful woman who has been my rock”.
The couple have two teenage children, but have tried to keep them out of the spotlight, including by not revealing their names in public.
Image source, Keir Starmer/Tom Baldwin
Mrs Starmer grew up in north London, not far from where she now lives with her family.
She attended Channing School before studying Law and Sociology at Cardiff University.
During her time at university, she became involved in student politics and became president of the Student Government Association in 1994.
In an interview with student newspaper Gair Rid, she said her first priority was campaigning against cuts to student grants.
Rob Watkins was also studying at Cardiff University at the time and worked as a photographer for the paper.
He remembered the future Mrs Starmer as “witty, professional and clearly dedicated to her job” and aware of her responsibility to the people she represented.
Image source, Rob Watkins/Alamy
Image source, Rob Watkins/Alamy
Mrs Starmer now works in occupational health for the NHS – something her husband mentioned often during his time as Labour leader.
He says it gives an insight into the issues facing the health service.
“She will absolutely continue to work. That’s what she wants and that’s what she loves.”
The couple say they want to continue living as normal a life as possible for their children, but Sir Keir’s work is already disrupting their home life.
In April, pro-Palestinian demonstrators protested outside his home, hanging banners outside the house and leaving children’s shoes outside the front door.
Mrs Starmer was returning from shopping with her son when she saw the protesters.
Asked how the protests made him feel, Starmer replied: “I felt a bit sick, to be honest.”
