Keir Starmer Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Keir Starmer

• Keir Starmer belongs to a Jewish family in Southwark, London.

• Soon after his birth, he moved to Oxted in Surrey, London. His parents were Labour Party supporters and there were many reports claiming that Starmer was named after the Labour Party’s first parliamentary leader Hardie; however, Keir said that he is not sure if the reports are correct.

• He pursued his schooling at the Reigate Grammar School and his education was free until the age of 16. After he turned 16, he was awarded a special grant by the school that allowed him to complete his education there free of cost.

• Keir chose Mathematics, Music, and Physics as specialist study subjects in which he achieved A-level grades of B, B and C.

• He had classmates who became famous, including musician Norman Cook, politician Andrew Cooper, and journalist Andrew Sullivan.

• During his teenage years, he became politically active and became a member of the Labour Party Young Socialists at the age of 16.
• The same year, he became the junior exhibitioner at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and remained for two years. He played the flute, piano, recorder, and violin.

• In 1985, he became the first member of his family to graduate from college.
  

  Keir Starmer with his parents on his graduation day

• In 1986, he became the editor of a British Trotskyist radical magazine called Socialist Alternatives. He served as its editor for a year.

• In 1987, he became a barrister at the Middle Temple. and was promoted to the rank of bencher at the Middle Temple in 2009.

• In the same year, he began working as a legal officer for the advocacy group known as the Liberty formally known as the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL).

• He worked for Liberty till 1990 after which he became a member of Doughty Street Chambers in Bristol, Manchester where he primarily worked on cases related to human rights issues.

• During that time, Starmer was appointed to the bar of various countries including Bahamas, Belize, St Vincent, St Lucia, Trinidad, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, and Malawi where he fought for convicts given death sentences.

• In 1999, he worked as a junior barrister for British army soldier Lee Clegg’s case who was convicted of murder.

• On 9 April 2002, he was appointed as the Queen’s Counsel.

• In 2002, he began serving as the Northern Ireland Policing Board’s and the Association of Chief Police Officers’ human rights adviser and served till 2008.

• In the same year, he also became a member of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s death penalty advisory panel.

• During his time as the human rights adviser to the Northern Ireland Policing Board, he met his wife for the first time who was a solicitor at the time.
  

  An old picture of Victoria Starmer and Keir Starmer

• In July 2008, he was appointed as the new head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Director of Public Prosecutions by the Attorney General for England and Wales at the time.

• After he was appointed as its head, he dealt with various major cases including the Stephen Lawrence murder case.

• In February 2010, as the head of the CPS, he announced the CPS’s decision to prosecute three Labour MPs and a Conservative peer for false accounting in the aftermath of the parliamentary expenses scandal as they all were found to be guilty.

• In 2015, Starmer was asked by many activists to contest in the 2015 Labour Party leadership election after the resignation of Ed Miliband as Leader of the Labour Party after the party lost its second consecutive general election; however, Starmer refused to take the position claiming that he did not have sufficient political experience.

• During the 2016 European Union membership referendum, he supported Britain’s Stronger in Europe advocacy group.

• He became a member of various parliamentarian groups including Labour Friends of Israel and Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East.

• Keir Starmer claims to be an atheist; however, he along with his wife are raising their kids as per the Judaism beliefs. According to him, he has faith in the power of religion as he believes ‘it brings people together.’

• Keir enjoys watching and playing football and is an Arsenal fan.