The general elections are fast-approaching, and both PM Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer are in attack mode. Keir Starmer is gearing up to be a fierce opponent, and according to The Guardian headline polls suggests that the Labour party may have a shot of winning in July.
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If this becomes reality, Starmer could indeed become the next Prime Minister of the UK and move into No.10—changing his life and that of his family's, who up until today have been left out of the spotlight.
Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer doesn’t have a billionaire wife, unlike Rishi Sunak, and seems to live a pretty normal life with his spouse of 15 years Lady Victoria.
Here is what we know about Lady Victoria, their relationship and how Keir Starmer feels about the impact of the elections on his teenage children.
Who is Sir Keir Starmer’s wife, Lady Victoria Starmer?
Lady Victoria, a trained solicitor, made quite an impression after she had been seen supporting her husband during his political endeavours. That impression was in fact so great that critics concluded that she might well be her husband’s secret weapon.
Always looking moderately glamorous and well-put together, Lady Victoria was praised not only for her ‘quiet confidence and working-mum chic’ but also for not shunning away from displaying affection for her husband in public.
Originally from Poland, Lady Victoria Starmer is Jewish and practices the Jewish faith. A mum of two, she left her solicitor work for good and is currently working in occupational health for the NHS.
A Labour insider once described the potential first lady as ‘quite sassy’ and ‘unbothered’ by her husband’s political activities. They predicted that if Sir Starmer is ever to take the leadership of the country, ‘she’s going to be very much leading her own life’. The insider said about the couple:
They have a great dynamic – she spends quite a lot of time taking the mickey out of him because he can be so serious. I’ve never known her to be particularly political – she’s always had her own interests.
In fact, Starmer himself confirmed that while she supports him, she has no interest in politics. He said:
Absolutely everything. Vic, my wife, is fantastic - she is my complete support and partner in this.
She doesn't do anything publicly, she just wants to get on with her job. She works for the NHS.
The Starmer's quiet family life
Both trained lawyers, Keir Starmer and Lady Victoria met in the noughties. She drew up documents for a case he was working on which led to a date in Lord Stanley pub on Camden Park Road. They got married in 2007.
Keir and Victoria Starmer have been married for 15 years https://t.co/bEva7lPCvk
— Mirror Politics (@MirrorPolitics) September 28, 2022
The couple now live in a £1.75 million house in Camden, North London and raise two children, a 15-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter.
As Tatler wrote last year, Starmer is ‘fiercely schtum about his private life’ but has revealed details here and there about their family life.
He once opened up about bringing their children up in the Jewish faith. Speaking to the Jewish Chronicle in March 2021, the Labour leader said:
As you probably know my wife’s family is Jewish. On her father’s side, there are bar mitzvahs, synagogues — there’s all the traditions.
He also talked about their Friday night tradition where his wife's family is invited to their Camden home for dinner.
He added:
It is about just being with the family. It’s about being a bit more disciplined, about being home with our children and the family — they are growing up fast.
The Starmers also brought up their children with strict eating habits. The kids were not allowed to eat meat until they were 10 years old. The Labour leader, who is pescatarian, and his wife, who is vegetarian, apparently do not have meat or fish in the house, but when their children turned 10 they had the freedom to consume whatever they wished when they were outside. In 2023, he said on the Table Manners podcast:
What we said to the kids was, by the time they were about 10, ‘it’s up to you’.
We said, ‘you can do what you like’ and our boy said ‘great’, so the moment we go out there’s a Deliveroo for Kentucky Fried Chicken or McDonald’s.
Keir Starmer worries for his children
More recently, Keir Starmer, who came out with his own biography, opened up a little bit more about his teenage children—specifically in the context of the general elections.
He confessed that there is something that keeps him up at night when it comes to running in the elections, and it's how it will affect his kids. He said in an interview with Trevor Phillips in the beginning of 2024:
The only thing that keeps me up at night, the only thing that worries me, is our children because they’re 13 and 15 – that’s a difficult age.
Starmer goes through many lengths to make sure his children are not in the spotlight. They do not take photographs together, and have not revealed their real names. However, he admits that as he progresses in his political career, that kind of privacy will be hard to maintain. He added:
I just desperately try to protect them in that way, but I know it’s going to be harder and I do worry about that.
Read more:
⋙ Sir Keir Starmer earns a six-figure salary: Here's how much the Labour leader gets paid
⋙ Where did Keir Starmer get his name? Here's the surprising story behind it
⋙ Rishi Sunak: The key people in the Prime Minister of the UK's life
Sources used:
Tatler: 'What do we know about Sir Keir Starmer’s wife, Lady Starmer?'
The Telegraph: Starmer says he has two sons in TV interview when he actually has a boy and a girl
BBC: Sir Keir Starmer has worries over election impact on his children
The Guardian: Keir Starmer expected to make it to No 10 despite his low personal popularity
