Who is Lady ?
Lady Victoria Starmer is the wife of Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer. She has been described as ‘publicity shy’ although she typically joins Sir Keir on the stage at the annual Labour party conference after he has delivered his annual speech.
While some sources have previously reported that she was born in Poland, Keir Starmer recently told the New Statesman podcast that his wife was born in Tufnell Park, London.
grew up in Gospel Oak, , where her mother was a community doctor. Her mother passed away in 2020 after a road traffic collision.
A former solicitor, now works in occupational health for the NHS. She has also served as a governor at her children’s school, and previously been involved in mentoring deprived children.
How old is Victoria Starmer?
was born in 1963. She will be 60 this year, and is a year younger than her husband.
When did Keir and meet?
Victoria and married in 2007. They couple were married a year before Starmer became head of the , eight years before became an MP, and thirteen years before he became .
The couple met sometime in the early 2000s after Victoria drafted documents for a case Starmer was working on during his tenure as a barrister at Doughty Street chambers.
Starmer told ‘s ‘Life Stories’ programme on ITV, that, “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.”
Starmer said he asked his later , about the accuracy of the documents, and before he ended the call he heard her complain, “Who the *bleep* does he think he is!”
“And quite right too,” Starmer added.
took Victoria to the Lord Stanley pub in Camden for their first date.
In the same interview, he revealed that the couple count human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and her actor husband as friends.
The couple are quite private, but it is known that they live with their two children, a teenage son, Toby, and a younger daughter, in a £1.75 million Camden townhouse in Starmer’s Holborn and constituency.
What are ‘s political views?
Victoria appears to have made little of her own political views public.
Tatler magazine has described her as a “reluctant” political spouse.
made her first major public appearance at Labour’s 2021 party conference in Brighton, accompanying off the stage following his first full conference speech as .
Her apparent desire to distance herself from politics is a marked contrast with No 10’s current resident spouse, Carrie Johnson, who worked as director of communications at Conservative party headquarters in 2017, following years of other party roles.
A Labour source told the Telegraph newspaper in 2021: “She’s quite sassy in that she’s quite unbothered by what he’s doing. If he ever gets into Downing Street, she’s going to be very much leading her own life. She’s not going to be in the spotlight like Cherie Blair, but more of a background Sarah Brown-type figure”.
“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,” they went on.
Is religious?
Victoria is Jewish and a member of Londons Liberal Jewish Synagogue, in St. John’s Wood.
Although is an atheist from a Christian background, Starmer has said that the couple’s shared children are being raised in the . He told the in 2021 that: “As you probably know my ‘s family is Jewish. On her father’s side, there are bar mitzvahs, synagogues – there’s all the traditions.”
He also said that his ‘s family visit them every Friday for dinner, stating: “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.”
Starmer has said that their children “recognize the faith of part of their grandfather’s family, and it’s very important”.
