Keir Starmer

Surrey

He was the second of the four children of Josephine (née Baker), a nurse, and Rodney Starmer, a toolmaker. His mother had Still's disease. His parents were Labour Party supporters, and reportedly named him after the party's first parliamentary leader, Keir Hardie, though Starmer said in 2015 that he did not know whether this is true.

Starmer became a barrister in 1987 at the Middle Temple, becoming a bencher there in 2009. He served as a legal officer for the campaign group Liberty until 1990. Starmer was a member of Doughty Street Chambers from 1990 onwards, primarily working on human rights issues. From representing people on death row as a human rights lawyer, to working on setting up the Northern Ireland Police Board in the wake of the Good Friday agreement, to making the law work for victims as Chief Prosecutor. He was elected leader of the Labour Party in 2020 to continue this work.