The Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer

Sir Keir was called to the Bar in 1987 and appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2002. He practised from Doughty Street Chambers since its inception in 1990 and was appointed Head of Chambers in 2007. His main areas of practice were human rights, international law, judicial review and criminal law, and he has conducted cases at the highest level – and all over the world – in those fields. He is the author of several leading text books on human rights and criminal law.

He was named QC of the Year in the field of human rights and public law in 2007 by the Chambers & Partners directory, and in 2005 he won the Bar Council’s Sydney Elland Goldsmith award for his outstanding contribution to pro bono work in challenging the death penalty throughout the Caribbean and also in Uganda, Kenya and Malawi.

From 2003 to 2008, Sir Keir was the human rights advisor to the Policing Board in Northern Ireland. In that capacity he worked with the Policing Board to ensure that the Police Service of Northern Ireland fully complied with its obligations under the Human Rights act 1998.

He served as Director of Public Prosecutions and Head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) from 2008 to 2013. As Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Keir introduced Core Quality Standards within the CPS and a robust quality assurance framework to ensure that all prosecutors provide a high-quality service to the public. Sir Keir also oversaw the merger of the CPS and the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office in 2009–10. A specialist revenue and customs division now operates successfully within the CPS, and significant savings have been made as a result.

Sir Keir has been the MP for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015 and was elected as Leader of the Labour Party on 4 April 2020. In July 2024, he assumed the office of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.