After 14 years in power, the Conservative Party was soundly defeated by Labour in Thursday’s general election.
The end of 14 years of Conservative rule across the Channel. British voters were called to the polls on Thursday, July 4, for decisive early general elections. They mark the beginning of a political transition in the United Kingdom, with the Labour Party largely winning the vote. By 7 a.m. (Paris time) on Friday, Labour had already won more than 390 seats, which gives it an absolute majority in the House of Commons.
Labour is set to win 410 of the 650 seats, according to a BBC estimate based on partial results. A clear defeat for the Tories, who could suffer their worst result in more than a century. They have so far won just over 100 seats, far behind the 365 seats they won in 2019.
Labour leader Keir Starmer is set to be tasked with forming a government and succeeding outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street. The 61-year-old former lawyer, knighted ten years ago, comes from a modest family and holds a moderate line, seen as too centrist by a section of the Labour base. Who is this football lover and Arsenal fan, who some say lacks charisma? ? Franceinfo draws a portrait of the future British leader.
1 He comes from a modest background.
Behind his title of “Sir”, the Labour leader recalls that he comes from a fairly modest background, with a father who was a toolmaker and a mother who was a nurse. “There were difficult times (…). I know what it means, uncontrolled inflation,” he stressed during a campaign speech, the Associated Press reports. “I know how the rising cost of living can make you dread the mailman. ‘Is he going to bring another bill we can’t pay?'”
Keir Starmer, his brother and two sisters grew up on the outskirts of London, in Oxted, Surrey. Their mother suffered from Still’s disease, a rare inflammatory condition that left her unable to walk for years. The disease left her son with: “deep gratitude” for the National Health Service (NHS), Labour points out. Politics was already present in the family of Keir Starmer, whose first name is also that of the founder of the Labour Party, Keir Hardie. His father was also a Labour supporter.
After Reigate Grammar School, Keir Starmer was the first in his family to pursue higher education, the BBC reports. He embarked on a law degree, first at the University of Leeds, then at the prestigious University of Oxford.
2 A lawyer, he headed the prosecution service in England and Wales.
The Oxted native began his career as a lawyer in 1987, specialising in human rights. He represented trade unions and defended prisoners facing the death penalty in the Caribbean, Uganda, Kenya and Malawi, according to Oxford University. Keir Starmer is also known for representing environmental activists in the late 1990s who were accused of distributing leaflets denouncing McDonald’s practices, particularly in environmental matters.
In the 2000s, the lawyer worked as a human rights advisor on the practices of the Northern Ireland police, before becoming Director of Public Prosecutions, the equivalent of Attorney General. As head of the Public Prosecution Service of England and Wales from 2008, he led, among other things, prosecutions against MPs, accused of profiting from their office expenses. He also prosecuted journalists for phone hacking cases and young people during riots in England.
3 He was elected as an MP in 2015, before taking over as Labour leader in 2020.
Keir Starmer’s career took a political turn in 2015, almost 30 years after he began his career as a lawyer. Shortly after his mother’s death, the 50-year-old was elected Labour MP for the constituency of Holborn and St Pancras in north London. The MP also gained responsibilities within the Labour Party: in the autumn of 2016, he was appointed Secretary of State for Brexit in the movement’s “shadow cabinet” – a form of alternative cabinet formed by the opposition. However, Keir Starmer voted against the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union and called for a second referendum. Before dismissing the idea of a British return to the EU in 2022.
After the Labour debacle in the 2019 general election, Keir Starmer succeeded Jeremy Corbyn as leader of Labour in April 2020, winning more than 50% of the vote. He promised “a new era of confidence and hope” and fights in particular against anti-Semitism present within the party. A few months after taking office, Labour suspended its former leader Jeremy Corbyn, due to his reservations about a damning investigation, castigating a “lack of will to tackle anti-Semitism [dans le parti] rather than an inability to do so”.
4 He defends a rather centrist program.
Since 2020, Keir Starmer has moved away from the left-wing ideas of his predecessor. He advocates the “serious”, “country first, party second” and is defending a more centrist line, after 14 years of conservative policies. According to the BBC, the Labour leader has notably set aside a promise to abolish university tuition fees, or the idea of massive annual investments (33 billion euros) for the environment. Enough to attract criticism from the more left-wing fringe of his electorate.
In this campaign, Labour has championed the fight against tax evasion, the construction of 1.5 million new homes, the recruitment of more than 6,000 teachers and the release of 40,000 additional medical appointments within the NHS. The party is also promoting the creation of a “border security command”, according to the BBC.
The political line of the leader is evolving, underlines the Guardian Chris Ward, one of his former advisers. “IHe was never from or beholden to any particular faction of the Labour Party. That is why he was able to win the leadership race on the moderate left and why he leads it today on the centre-right.” As a goal “to get closer to his goal, which is to win the elections and change the country.”