Politics with Alex

In its 124 year history, only three leaders of the Labour Party have won majorities in General Elections: Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson and Tony Blair. Named after the founder of the Labour Party Keir Hardie, in just two days time Keir Starmer could become the fourth person to do so. But who exactly is Keir Starmer, where did he come from and how might his background provide clues about how he might govern the UK?

Written by journalist and former Labour Party advisor Tom Baldwin, this illuminating biography apparently began life intending to simply be a puff piece, a slice of party endorsed propaganda to promote Starmer. Instead we get a revealing account of the experiences that shaped the Labour leader throughout his life, as told by him and many of those closest to him. Broken down into five parts, the book broadly follows his life chronologically; his childhood growing up in Surrey, his young adulthood where he studied law, his career as Director of Public Prosecutions, his journey to become a Member of Parliament, and finally his leadership of the Party and bringing it closer to power.

Much of the latter section of the book is realatively common knowledge; we know that he was widely regarded as an effective DPP, that he rose quickly through the ranks of the Labour Party to become Shadow Brexit Secretary, and that he has ruthlessly worked to transform his party since taking over the leadership from Corbyn after the disastrous election results of 2019. It is the earlier sections that are perhaps more illustrative of the person he would become. Many members of the public assume, possibly due to his Knighthood, that Keir is solidly upper/middle class or even that he is descended from aristocracy. On the surface, growing up in leafy Surrey and attending what is now a public school would support that. But, scratch below this and you find out that what is now a public school was at the time a state funded Grammar. And that the idylic Surrey home was actually a very simple pebbledashed house where Keirs parents struggled at times to pay the bills, and where repairs and refurbishments often went undone due to tight finances. It is from this childhood that the soundbite “My father was a toolmaker, my mother worked for the NHS” originate. In this book, Baldwin delves into this backstory more deeply. Starmers strained relationship with his father who was distant and emotionally repressed. His mothers health issues which meant she spent long periods in hospital and being cared for. These areas really help add depth to Starmer as a figure, and demonstrate where his belief in public service first came from.

The book also walks through Starmers project to transform the Labour party once he took over leadership in 2020, turning it from “a party of protest, to a party of government”. That he has managed to do this in less than 5 years, when originally it was expected to take a decade, is impressive. But it also fails to recognise that much of this is due to people loosing faith in the Conservatives, rather than regaining faith in Labour. Where the book is more scant on details is in explaining or justifying Starmers ditching of the pledges he had when he stood for leadership. The book paints Starmer as a pragmatist who has attempted to reform and change each part of a system, before realising that true change comes from the level above. While cold-headed pragmatism is often required, if a leader is so willing to ditch the principles they held only a few years earlier, this suggests that they are willing to change their beliefs simply to win power.

To quote the last Labour leader to take the Party from opposition: “Power without principle is barren, but principle without power is futile.”. Under Corbyn, Labour certainly returned to more left wing principles but sadly never seemed likely to get into power. Perhaps this time the pendulum has swung in the other direction; Keir Starmer is likely to be in power after the election, we may see a barren land void of any overarching principles stretching ahead of us.

‘Keir Starmer’ by Tom Baldwin is published by Harper Collins Books