In 2024, after 14 years of Conservative Party government, the British people voted for a change. Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party in parliament, became prime minister. I was intrigued. Usually a prime minister became a ‘Sir’ after retiring from that role. Who is the Right Honourable Sir Keir Starmer KCB, KC, MP? This biography by Tom Baldwin enlightened me.

Starmer’s parents (his mother a nurse, his father a toolmaker) were strong Labour Party supporters. It’s rumoured that he was named after Keir Hardy, the Labour Party’s first parliamentary leader. While still at high school, he won a junior exhibition from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He attended every Saturday and played piano, violin, flute and recorder. He made sure it didn’t interfere with his playing soccer.

He went to Leeds University, gaining first class honours in law (LL.B) and then on to Oxford for a post-graduate degree. He was called to the bar and joined Doughty Street Chambers. Notable members included Geoffrey Robertson and Amal Clooney.

Starmer was considered a defence, rather than a prosecuting, lawyer. It surprised many when, in 2008, he was offered and accepted the role as Director of Public Prosecutions for England and Wales. He decided not to take up a second five-year term and retired in 2013. A year later, he was knighted by the monarch.

Retirement at 52 didn’t appeal. Starmer stood for parliament and became the member for Holborn and St Pancras. Five years later, he was leader of the party and in a few years, prime minister.

This remarkable, driven man followed Tony Blair’s example and moved Labour’s parliamentary party towards the political centre to ensure it had a better chance of winning government.

In private, Starmer is relaxed, funny and witty; in public, he is cautious and considered dull.

Keir Starmer: The biography is the story of a boy who strived to please his father but felt he never quite achieved it.

Having read the book, I know he did. And Starmer now knows that he did. But it is too late; his father is dead.

Reviewed by Clive Hodges