Victoria Starmer: Who is the new PM's wife?
- Published
Throughout the general election campaign and much of her husband's tenure as Labour leader, Victoria Starmer has kept a low profile.
Apart from appearances at Labour conferences, the odd state banquet and a Taylor Swift concert, Lady Starmer, nee Victoria Alexander, has sought to avoid public appearances
Asked on LBC about his wife's low profile, Sir Keir pointed out that she had a full-time job at an NHS hospital and that their eldest child was doing his GCSEs.
“We took the decision that whilst I was out and about on the road, we wanted to create the environment where he could study calmly in ordinary circumstances.”
However, now that Sir Keir has won the election and become prime minister, Lady Starmer may find it trickier to shun the spotlight.
Up until now, Lady Starmer has only occasionally appeared on big public and ceremonial occasions
When she first met Sir Keir in the early 2000s, he wasn't a politician but a barrister. She was a solicitor working on the same case.
Sir Keir told ITV's Piers Morgan's Life Stories, of their first meeting: "I was doing a case in court and it all depended on whether the documents were accurate.
"I [asked the team] who actually drew up these documents, they said a woman called Victoria, so I said 'let's get her on the line.'"
He grilled her forensically on the paper but as he hung up he heard one comment from her.
"She said, 'who the bleep does he think he is', then put the phone down on me," Sir Keir said. "And quite right too."
The couple got engaged just a few months after meeting
- Published5 July
- Published12 July
- Published5 July
Despite the rocky beginnings, the relationship blossomed after a first date in the Lord Stanley pub in Camden, north London.
Speaking to his biographer Tom Baldwin, Sir Keir described her as "grounded, sassy, funny, streetwise - and utterly gorgeous too".
He proposed just a few months later on a holiday in Greece.
"Won't we need a ring, Keir?" was her down-to-earth response.
They were married in 2007 at the Fennes estate in Essex, walking down the aisle to one of Sir Keir's favourite pieces of music - Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.5, 2nd movement.
He later described her to Radio 4's Desert Island Discs as an "incredibly warm, wonderful woman. My complete rock".
The couple have two teenage children - but have been at pains to keep them out of the limelight - making a point of not naming them in public.
The newly-weds with Sir Keir's parents, Rodney and Josephine Starmer
Lady Starmer grew up in north London, not far from where she currently lives with her family.
She attended Channing School before studying law and sociology at Cardiff University.
While there, she got involved in student politics, becoming president of the student union in 1994.
In an interview with the student newspaper Gair Rhydd, she said her main priority was to campaign against cuts to student grants.
Rob Watkins was at Cardiff University at the same time and worked as a photographer for the paper.
He remembers the future Lady Starmer as being "witty and professional, clearly dedicated to her work" and aware of her responsibility to the people she represented.
Lady Starmer got involved in student politics during her university years
The young Victoria was also a keen rat-owner who kept her pet in her jumper
Lady Starmer currently works in occupational health for the NHS - something her husband has frequently referred to during his time as Labour leader.
He says it gives him insight into the problems faced by the health service.
Speaking to the Times in May,, external Sir Keir said his wife intended to keep her job if he won the election.
“She’s absolutely going to carry on working, she wants to and she loves it."
While the couple say they want to keep life as normal as possible for their children, their domestic life has already been disrupted by Sir Keir's job.
In April, pro-Palestinian demonstrators held a protest outside their home, hanging a banner outside their house and laying children's shoes outside the front door.
Lady Starmer had returned from a shopping trip with her son when she saw the protesters.
Asked how the protest made her feel, Lady Starmer said: "I felt a bit sick, to be perfectly honest."
