Lady Victoria Starmer will be preparing to move into Downing Street.
Her husband Sir Keir Starmer has reached the magic number of 326 seats and will become the country’s next prime minister.
Lady Starmer has never done an interview – and according to Sir Keir, that’s not about to change.
In his speech after holding the Holborn and St Pancras constituency, he thanked her for her support.
In contrast to Rishi Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty, who introduced him with a speech at the Tory conference and gave a sit-down on-camera interview to Grazia where she talked about chores and her favourite family activities, we don’t often see or hear from the Labour leader’s wife.
Here we take a closer look at what we know about the UK’s next “First Lady”.
From a career in law to the NHS
Like her husband, Lady Starmer trained as a solicitor and the couple met through work.
She now works in occupational health for the NHS – a role she loves, Sir Keir said in an interview with the Sunday Mirror.
Her job gives an insight into the coal face of the health service, he said.
“I get a direct line of sight on a daily basis into the challenges of the NHS and the morale of the staff.”
She will “absolutely” carry on working for the NHS if Sir Keir becomes prime minister, he told The Times: “She wants to and she loves it.”
The couple outside a polling station during the local elections. Pic: Reuters
A brief appearance during campaigning
Amid a flurry of press about why Lady Starmer had not been seen on the campaign trail, Sir Keir shared a photo of them at Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in London.
Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby said on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast there seemed to be an element of the photo being “choreographed”.
“I think maybe there was something about just reminding everyone that he is happily married to Vic… just kind of inserting her in a way that was really low-key, but very, clear,” she said.
Keir Starmer with wife Victoria at the Taylor Swift Eras Tour in London
Former Labour adviser Ayesha Hazarika told the podcast the way the couple had approached this campaign showed a move away the “1980s” stance of “I am the man and here is my political trophy wife”.
It reflects her being “a modern, professional established woman in her own right”, she said.
The couple were guests at a state banquet at Buckingham Palace
A fiercely private family life
Sir Keir and Lady Starmer have two children together and live in Camden, in his Holborn and St Pancras constituency.
They do not mention their children’s names in public.
Lady Starmer has largely kept herself out of the spotlight – she has never done an interview and “we’ll keep it that way”, Sir Keir told The Times.
“I’m not going to pretend that it’s easy for her, because it isn’t. She wants to get on with her life,” he said.
“It is a massive intrusion when you have media outside the house. It is inhibiting on the whole family.
“That does impact on her and will do even more if we’re privileged enough to get it over the line.”
The couple at Wimbledon
Lady Starmer is Jewish and Sir Keir has talked about keeping the tradition of family Friday night dinners, where they are often joined by her father for prayers.
“It is about just being with the family,” he told the Jewish Chronicle in 2020.
“It’s about being a bit more disciplined, about being home with our children and the family – they are growing up fast.”
How the couple met
Sir Keir described their first meeting while on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories in 2020.
“I was doing a case in court and it all depended on whether the documents were accurate.
“I [asked my colleagues] who actually drew up these documents, they said a woman called Victoria, so I said let’s get her on the line.”
He said he heard her mutter “Who the f*** does he think he is?” before hanging up.
Undeterred, he asked her on a date to a pub in Camden. That was in the early 2000s and the couple married in 2007.
