The new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom ¿Who’s Keir Starmer?
The new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the best example of how demanding citizens are in this group of European nations.
Four and a half years ago, the British Labor Party suffered its worst electoral defeat since 1935, implying, perhaps a recomposition that would take a long time.
Boris Johnson’s historic election victory in 2019, which allowed him to finally implement Brexit, was supposed to mark another 10 years of Conservative rule in the UK.
Then the Labour leader, the left-wing Jeremy Corbyn, was forced to resign and, reluctantly, hand over his party to the centrist Keir Starmer, a former lawyer, knight of the realm and exactly the kind of establishment figure Corbyn and the far left despise.
But it was far from certain, for now the Labour party has succeeded in proposing the new prime minister of the United Kingdom.
In just over four years, the UK’s new prime minister, Keir Starmer, has pulled off a once-impossible coup and dragged his Labour Party from the fringes of British politics to a resounding victory in Thursday’s general election.
It will be the first time Labour has been in power since 2010 and the first time it has come to power from opposition since Tony Blair’s historic victory in 1997.
The UK’s new Prime Minister has promised to be the agent of change.
The new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom ¿Keir Starmer?
On paper, Starmer, 61, seems a classic establishment figure.
Once a prominent human rights lawyer, he became Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in 2008, heading the Crown Prosecution Service of England and Wales, a high-profile job for which he was knighted, making him the first Labour leader to enter power with the prefix Sir to his name.
Born in 1962, Starmer grew up in a small town south of London. His father was a toolmaker who worked in a factory, his mother was a nurse who suffered severe physical disabilities, which eventually led to her leg being amputated.
He has spoken of noticing that people looked down on his father for working in a factory or bullying his brother. His parents were politicians and named their eldest son after the first Labour leader in Parliament, Keir Hardie.
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Starmer chose to study law at Leeds University, before completing a postgraduate degree at Oxford University.
At first he thought he would have a legal career working for trade unions, but as his politics evolved in line with his studies, he became increasingly interested in human rights.
He was elected to Parliament in 2015 at the age of 52 and entered the shadow cabinet just over a year later.
Corbyn’s ward
Jeremy Corbyn, then Labour leader, named Starmer his Brexit boss after the 2016 referendum.
Corbyn is a controversial figure in British politics and serving on his senior team remains something that haunts Starmer.
However, Starmer expelled Corbyn from the Labour Party following an investigation into anti-Semitism during Corbyn’s time as leader.
Starmer has also said he supported Corbyn knowing he would lose.
Polls suggest that is true, but Starmer’s critics on the left say he used Corbyn and his wing of the Labor Party to win the party leadership in 2020.
Whether you think Starmer’s current plan is unambitious, dishonest or exactly what Britain needs, it’s impossible to push through policies without political and personal capital.
As much as Starmer’s allies may see this as a strength, his opponents, on both sides of politics, see it as a weakness.
