Keir Starmer
The Biography Tom Baldwin William Collins, £25
There has been no shortage of major political twists and turns in recent times, but it would take a truly shattering political earthquake for Labour not to win a majority in the next general election, which must take place in less than a year. The party’s leader, Keir Starmer, however, remains an enigma. When Tory donor Michael Ashcroft wrote
Red Knight, publishedin 2021, which was clearly intended to be an exposé, he struggled to find much to say about Starmer, damning or otherwise. Tom Baldwin’s biography aims to fill this gap.
His book is based on interviews originally carried out for a planned ghost-written autobiography intended to humanise the Labour leader. The demands of being leader of the opposition forced Starmer to abandon the project, but Baldwin carried on, writing it up as biography. Given those origins, it’s not surprising that Starmer’s portrait is painted in a positive light. Indeed, the final pages, which focus on what Starmer plans to do in office, read like a party political broadcast or a conference speech. Still, Baldwin also features critical voices, including those of former Corbynites who are aggrieved at what they see
“Starmer’s modest background contrasts starkly with that of every prime minister since John Major”
as Starmer’s “betrayal” of both their hero and the pledges he made when running for leader in early 2020.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the book is the section on Starmer’s childhood and the account of his early years. His modest background contrasts starkly with that of every prime minister since John Major and his mother’s long illness clearly left a mark on him. And contrary to the stereotype of him as an apolitical (or opportunistic) technocrat, Starmer comes across as someone deeply interested in politics from a young age, and committed to various leftwing causes, especially human rights. As a lawyer, he battled on behalf of the National Union of Mineworkers and environmental activists and when he served as director of public prosecutions he was, says Baldwin, willing to intervene when he felt victims’ rights were being neglected.
In Baldwin’s portrait, Starmer’s pragmatism and lack of sentimentality have enabled him to recognise his mistakes and take action to correct them, something predecessors such as Ed Miliband struggled with. Starmer stripped Jeremy Corbyn of the Labour whip only months after serving in his shadow cabinet, for example, and reshuffled his frontbench after a disappointing first 15 months as leader.
This certainly won’t be the last biography of Starmer, but it does a good job of filling in the blanks in the interim in the life story of someone who is likely to become our next prime minister.