Post by Admin on Jul 6, 2024 20:46:08 GMT
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Three years ago Sir Keir Starmer seriously considered quitting as Labour leader.
It was 2021 and his party had just lost the Hartlepool by-election to Boris Johnson’s Conservatives.
It was the first time Labour had ever lost the seat. Three short years feel like a political lifetime ago now.
Sir Keir has become only the fifth person in British history to take Labour from opposition to power.
His party has gone from a historic thumping at the general election in 2019 – to victory in 2024.
The Hartlepool result though, is a reminder that Sir Keir’s journey to Downing Street was far from straightforward. In fact, for a long time his life and career were on a very different path.
Under the 2010-15 coalition government, he had to implement significant cuts, with the Crown Prosecution Service’s budget reduced by more than a quarter.
He also oversaw high-profile decisions including the prosecution of MPs over their parliamentary expenses following the 2009 scandal and prosecuting the then Lib Dem cabinet minister Chris Huhne for asking his wife to take speeding points for him.
Sir Keir's legal work was rewarded with a knighthood in 2014. But how successful was his leadership?
Towards the end of his tenure, Sir Keir admitted in a BBC interview that vulnerable victims were still being let down by the justice system.
A late career change
It wasn't until the age of 52 that the career change came.
Sir Keir was selected for a safe Labour seat in north London, winning comfortably. He and his predecessor Rishi Sunak became MPs on the same day.
But it wasn’t a happy time for the Labour Party.
The Conservatives had just won the general election and a bitter factional battle loomed after Jeremy Corbyn became leader.
Much has been said and written about Sir Keir’s journey from backbencher to the Labour leadership – and now to Downing Street. But some things are worth highlighting.
When he became leader, Jeremy Corbyn made Sir Keir shadow immigration minister but it didn’t last long.
He resigned after less than a year, one of dozens of frontbenchers who quit after the Brexit referendum in an attempt to force Mr Corbyn out.
When that failed, and Mr Corbyn saw off a leadership challenge, Sir Keir returned to the fold as shadow Brexit secretary.