INTERVIEW GRAZIA
GRAZIA EXCLUSIVE
With an election looming, women are wondering what front runner Labour leader Keir Starmer actually stands for. From the gender pay gap to his relationship with his kids, Starmer speaks out
KEIR STARMER HAS HEARD the one about the personality politician before, and frankly, he doesn’t care. ‘I’ve been at this now for nearly four years. I’ve spoken to thousands upon thousands of people. And I keep getting challenged, particularly when Boris Johnson was leader: “Doesn’t the nation want someone who’s a bit of an entertainer? [Don’t they] want someone who looks like this?”’, he says.
‘I can honestly tell you, in all of those discussions, when I say, “What’s the challenge facing you in your life?” nobody has said to me: “I need someone who tells a joke.”’
The Labour leader has a point. He has steered the party from the brink of extinction to a lead of 20 points in the polls (even higher among young women) since he took the reins – with pollsters now saying he’s on track to be our next Prime Minister.
Today, we’re at a primary school in Essex where Starmer, 61, is keen to talk about what Labour would do to help children in state schools develop their creativity. He greets me on the platform at Harlow Town station, flanked by his entourage, and dives straight in with a quip about how he’ll be with eight and nine-year-olds in the morning and back in Parliament later, where people behave as if they’re even younger.
As his team prepare for the firing gun of the election being called, Starmer himself seems relaxed about the campaigning that lies ahead. He’s warmer and funnier than the guy we see on TV and the more serious person I met when I interviewed him last year.
In a navy suit but tieless, he chats to the pupils about his own kids. He has a son, 15, and a daughter, 13, but has kept them out of the spotlight.
Speaking to Grazia later, the former lawyer reveals how he bonded with his eldest by taking four months off when he was born, before he was appointed as director of public prosecutions.
‘I happened to be winding down my job as a lawyer, because I’d just taken up the role of DPP. That means I had about four months between finishing and a sort of enforced period of time on my hands until I became DPP, and I decided not to fill that time but to spend it with him in those very early years,’ he says. ‘I genuinely believe that has created a bond that is very deep, and I tried to do the same with my daughter. Now it’s difficult to do and I understand why many parents can’t do that. But for me, just to spend that quality time [in the] very, very early months…’
