1. Early life

2. Legal career
     Director of Public Prosecutions    Post-DPP career  

3. Political career
     Shadow Cabinet  

4. Personal life

5. Honours

6. Honorary degrees

7. Publications

8. References

9. External links

He was appointed Queen's Counsel (QC) in 2002 and Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2014 New Year Honours. He was sworn in as a Privy Councillor on 19 July 2017.^[3]

Early life

Born in Southwark,^[4] Starmer was the second of four children of Josephine ({{nee|Baker}}), a nurse, and Rod Starmer, a toolmaker.^[5] He was named after the founder of the Labour Party Keir Hardie.^[6] He passed the Eleven-Plus examination and gained entry to Reigate Grammar School,^[6] then a voluntary aided school. He studied law at the University of Leeds and graduated with a first class Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree in 1985. He then undertook postgraduate studies at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, and graduated from the University of Oxford with a Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) degree in 1986.^[7]

Legal career

Starmer became a barrister in 1987. He advised Helen Steel and David Morris in the McLibel case, which went to court in 1997. In an interview, he described the case as "very much a David and Goliath", and said that "There's an extremely good legal team acting for McDonalds at great expense and Dave and Helen have had to act for themselves with me as a sort of free back up whenever possible." He was also interviewed for McLibel, the documentary about the case directed by Franny Armstrong and Ken Loach.^[8] He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2002, and was joint head of his chambers, Doughty Street Chambers.

He was a human rights adviser to the Northern Ireland Policing Board and the Association of Chief Police Officers. He is a member of the Foreign Secretary's Death Penalty Advisory Panel. In 2007, he was named "QC of the Year".^[9] While in office, he was viewed as a Labour supporter.^[6]

Director of Public Prosecutions

On 25 July 2008, the Attorney General, Patricia Scotland, named Starmer as the next head of the CPS, to take over from Sir Ken Macdonald, QC on 1 November 2008.^[1] Macdonald (now Lord Macdonald of River Glaven), himself a former defence lawyer, welcomed the appointment.

On 22 July 2010, Starmer announced the controversial decision not to prosecute the police officer Simon Harwood in relation to the death of Ian Tomlinson; this led to accusations by Tomlinson's family of a police cover up.^[10]

On 3 February 2012, Starmer announced that the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne MP and his former wife, Vicky Pryce would be prosecuted for perverting the course of justice. Huhne became the first Cabinet minister in British history to be compelled to resign as a result of criminal proceedings.^[11] Starmer had previously stated in relation to the case that "[w]here there is sufficient evidence we do not shy away from prosecuting politicians".^[12]

In the summer of 2012 Nick Cohen, a journalist, published allegations that Starmer was personally responsible for the continued prosecution of Paul Chambers, an airline passenger who, frustrated at airport delays, had posted a joke about Doncaster Sheffield Airport on Twitter. In the case known as the "Twitter Joke Trial" Chambers had been convicted of sending a message "of a menacing character". The trial and conviction provoked widespread protest by free-speech activists, but the Crown Prosecution Service maintained a long-term opposition to Chambers' appeals. According to Chambers' friends, prosecutors had been willing to stop opposing the appeals, but Starmer had over-ruled his subordinates because he was "trying to save face by refusing to admit he was in the wrong." However the CPS said the decision was out of Starmer's hands as it was a crown court decision.^[13]

He left office on 1 November 2013 and was replaced by Alison Saunders.^[14][15]

Post-DPP career

In December 2013, the Labour Party announced that Starmer would lead an enquiry into changing the law to give further protection to victims in cases of rape and child abuse.^[16] On 28 December Starmer said to BBC News: "well, I'm back in private practice; I'm rather enjoying having some free time, and I'm considering a number of options".^[17]

Political career

Starmer was selected on 13 December 2014 as the Labour Party's prospective parliamentary candidate for the constituency of Holborn and St Pancras, following the decision of the sitting MP Frank Dobson to stand down.^[18] Starmer was elected at the 2015 general election with a majority of 17,048.^[19]

He was urged by activists to stand for Leader of the Labour Party at the 2015 leadership election,^[20] but he ruled out doing so, citing his lack of political experience.^[21] During the campaign to elect a new leader of the Labour Party, following the resignation of Ed Miliband, Keir Starmer backed Andy Burnham for the leadership.^[22] After Jeremy Corbyn was elected, Starmer was appointed as a Shadow Home Office Minister reporting to Burnham.

In September 2015, Starmer along with Tulip Siddiq and Catherine West wrote a letter to then-Prime Minister David Cameron seeking urgent action to address the refugee crisis due to the Syrian Civil War.^[23][24][25] Early in October 2016, he was appointed by Jeremy Corbyn to the Shadow Cabinet, as Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.

Later that month he appeared on Question Time.^[26]

Shadow Cabinet

On 6 October 2016, Starmer was appointed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union,^[27] replacing Emily Thornberry in this role. Starmer resigned from a consultancy position with the law firm specialising in human rights (Mishcon de Reya LLP) that acted for Gina Miller in bringing legal proceedings against the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.^[28] Starmer has used his position as Shadow Secretary of State to question the government's "destination" for Britain outside the European Union, as well as calling for the government's Brexit plan to be released. On 6 December 2016, Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed the government would do this,^[29] in what was portrayed as a victory for Starmer.

Starmer has questioned whether the victory for "Leave" in the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, 2016 was a mandate for a so-called "hard Brexit", which would see the UK leave the European Single Market and not just the Political union itself.^[30] He stated that Theresa May together with the government would be subject to a race against time to pass a large number of new laws, or risk an “unsustainable legal vacuum”, if Britain left the EU without a deal.^[31] On 25 September 2018 he announced to the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool that, "campaigning [by the party] for a public vote must be an option".^[32]

Personal life

Starmer married Victoria Alexander, a solicitor, in 2007, and has a son and daughter.^[5]

While he was awarded a knighthood in 2014 for "services to law and criminal justice" and is therefore entitled to be known as "Sir Keir Starmer", he does not use the title.^[33] He told the Ham & High, a local newspaper in his constituency that "I've never liked titles" stating that "When I was DPP, everyone called me director and I said, 'Please don't call me director, call me Keir Starmer.' It's a very similar battle now."^[34]

Honours

• Starmer was appointed a Queen's Counsel (QC) in 2002.
• He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2014 New Year Honours for "services to law and criminal justice".^[35][36]
• On 19 July 2017 he was appointed a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom.^[3]
• He holds an Honorary Fellowship at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford.

Honorary degrees

Publications

Starmer is the author and editor of several books about criminal law and human rights.

• Justice in error, ed. by Clive Walker and Keir Starmer (London: Blackstone, 1993), {{ISBN|1-85431-234-0}}
• Francesca Klug, Keir Starmer and Stuart Weir, The three pillars of liberty: political rights and freedoms in the United Kingdom (London: Routledge, 1996), {{ISBN|0-415-09641-3}}
• Conor Foley and Keir Starmer, Signing up for human rights: the United Kingdom and international standards (London: Amnesty International United Kingdom, 1998), {{ISBN|1-873328-30-3}}
• Miscarriages of justice: a review of justice in error, ed. by Clive Walker and Keir Starmer (London: Blackstone, 1999), {{ISBN|1-85431-687-7}}
• Keir Starmer, European human rights law: the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights (London: Legal Action Group, 1999), {{ISBN|0-905099-77-X}}
• Keir Starmer, Michelle Strange, and Quincy Whitaker, with Anthony Jennings and Tim Owen, Criminal justice, police powers and human rights (London: Blackstone, 2001), {{ISBN|1-84174-138-8}}
• Keir Starmer with Iain Byrne, Blackstone's human rights digest (London: Blackstone, 2001), {{ISBN|1-84174-153-1}}
• Keir Starmer and Jane Gordon, A report on the policing of the Ardoyne parades 12 July 2004 (Belfast: Northern Ireland Policing Board, 2004)

References

External links

• {{Official website|keirstarmer.com}}
• {{UK MP links |parliament=keir-starmer/4514 |publicwhip=Keir_Starmer |theywork=keir_starmer}}
• CPS

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