My disc choices were not by focus group, says Starmer

SIR KEIR STARMER has denied choosing his Desert Island Discs tracks based on f ocus group answers after he selected a football anthem and a Beethoven symphony as his favourite songs.

The Labour leader appeared on the BBC Radio 4. programme yesterday and chose an eclectic mix of music, including Three Lions, a football song written to mark England’s hosting of the 1996 European Championships, and Out on the Floor by Dobie Gray, a Northern soul song.

Sir Keir also chose a symphony by Beethoven, the EU’S favourite composer, and a charity cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge over Troubled Water by artists, including Stormzy, who were raising money for the victims of the Grenfell disaster.

He said the track was “a reminder that for all the factional and party positions, politics is about people and Grenfell brought a shudder to everybody”.

Lauren Laverne, the presenter, challenged Sir Keir on the unusual mixture, suggesting they might be the result of a “focus group to get approval for these tracks first”.

“These are entirely my own choices,” Sir Keir replied.

“If you run into anybody I’ve known for a long time, they will tell you this is the genuine Keir Starmer list.” Beethoven’s Symphony No 6, also known as the Pastoral Symphony, is a favourite of his father, while his mother enjoyed Welcome to My World by Jim Reeves, he said.

Sir Keir said the Northern soul track reminded him of “my early days in London in a really grotty flat above a sauna and massage parlour that kept interesting hours”.

The other tracks the Labour leader selected include Falling and Laughing by Orange Juice, a song that “captures those early years at university and beyond, and Oh Happy Day by the Edwin Hawkins Singers, which he said “reminds me of all the challenges we went through [in Northern Ireland]”. Three Lions, the football track, was playing when Sir Keir watched England play in Euro 96. He stressed that he still enjoys football, telling the programme he plays “every week”.

His “luxury item” to be enjoyed on a desert island was a football, and the book he chose was an atlas, so he could escape the i sland. His i nterview recalled the choices of Ed Miliband, who was accused of “hedging his bets” by choosing well-known classic songs including Angels by Robbie Williams and Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline.

Sir Keir chose instead to select a number of obscure songs, which he maintained were genuine favourites.

He also used the interview to talk candidly about his father, who he described as “difficult” and “complicated”.

“I don’t often talk about my dad,” he said. “He was a difficult man, a complicated man, he kept himself to himself, he didn’t particularly like to socialise, so wouldn’t really go out very much. But he was incredibly hard-working.”

Sir Keir said his father had “utter devotion and commitment” to his mother, who had lived with the autoimmune condition Still’s disease since she was 11.

She eventually died a few weeks before he was elected an MP in 2015.

“My mum was very, very ill all of her life and my dad knew exactly the symptoms of everything that might possibly go wrong with my mum,” he said.

“He knew exactly what drugs or combination of drugs or injection would be needed. He stopped drinking completely just in case he ever needed to get to the hospital with her. On the many occasions she was in hospital he would stay with her the whole time, he wouldn’t leave the hospital.”

‘If you run into anybody I’ve known for a long time, they will tell you this is the genuine Keir Starmer list’