"He is so weak he’s done a grubby deal trading national security because he was scared to lose another leadership election," said Keir Starmer, Leader of the Opposition and of the Labour Party as he lashed out at Britain's new prime minister, Rishi Sunak, during PMQs on Wednesday.
Starmer, who used to work as the Director of Public Prosecutions, is known for his ruthlessness at the PMQs and often imitates the role of a prosecutor leading the Labour Party charge against the Conservative Party.
So, who is Keir Starmer? What does his political career look like? And can he lead the Labour Party to victory in two years time?
Early Career
Born in Southwark, London, Starmer became active in Labour politics from an early age. In fact, his parents, both Labour Party supporters, named him after Keir Hardie, who was the party's first parliamentary leader from 1906 to 1908.
He was also a member of the Labour Party Young Socialists in East Surrey during his teenage years and went on to become a barrister in 1987.
In July 2008, Starmer was appointed as new head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Director of Public Prosecutions, something he likes to bring up all the time during PMQs.
During the 2011 England riots, he handed long sentences to rioters, which he later said had helped to bring "the situation back under control."
In November 2013, he left the office, and in one year, he had been elected to Parliament on a Labour ticket.
The Labour Party and the Leader of the Opposition
In 2015 general election, Starmer was elected from the constituency of Holborn and St Pancras, which has been a safe seat for the Labour Party.
The then leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn appointed Starmer as the Shadow Brexit Secretary, whose job was to scrutinise government policy on Brexit.
Following Labour Party's defeat in the 2019 general election, when Corbyn stood down as Leader of the party, Starmer announced his candidacy.
In the leadership contest, Starmer went on to defeat Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy in April 2020, one year into the COVID-19 pandemic.
Starmer accused the Boris Johnson government of being "too slow to enter the lockdown," and called for an exit plan in a "careful, considered way with public health, scientific evidence and the safety of workers and families."
Leading Labour Into Local Elections
Keir Starmer led his party into the 2021 local elections and was criticised for the Labour Party's failure to win the Hartlepool by-election (which was considered a relatively safe seat for Labour).
In the local elections that were held in May, the Labour Party lost 327 councillors and control of 8 councils.
The 2022 local elections, however, gave some joy to Starmer and the party as the government was reeling under scandals like Partygate and a rising cost of living. The Labour Party made gains across the country, winning 35 percent of the total vote compared to the Tories' 30 percent.
What Do the Polls Say?
Sunak's appointment as the new prime minister of the United Kingdom may have eased the political crisis within the Conservative Party for a bit but it doesn't change the fact that in the last few months, the Tory government has seen three prime ministers – Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Sunak.
Of course, Johnson and Truss have themselves more than anyone to blame for their downfall. Starmer, however, has been relentlessly hammering the Tories both inside and outside the House of Commons.
The incessant and pointed attacks from Starmer has increased his popularity over the last few months while chipping away the support for the Tories.
In the most recent YouGov poll, data from a a modelling sample of 12,000 people revealed that Starmer would win 389 constituencies, and Sunak would just win 127 constituencies.
In the remaining 116 constituencies, voters were not sure of who to choose. This would be an astounding election result for the country, given that Boris Johnson led the Conservatives to an 80-seat majority in the 2019 elections.
A poll from July, when the economy was not as bad as what it is right now, showed that when put to head-to-head with Starmer, Rishi Sunak was the only leader of the Conservative Party projected to defeat him with a one-point lead.
The poll was conducted by JL Partners with 2,028 British adults participating in it.
That is a significant improvement for Starmer given that in June 2022, an Observer poll showed that Boris Johnson (PM at the time) would make a better PM than Keir Starmer would despite Partygate, the cost of living crisis and Johnson's no-confidence vote.
With Rishi Sunak in 10 Downing Street, Starmer has an uphill task in the upcoming election, as the polls indicate. Only the time will tell if the former prosecutor will lead the Labour Party to a win, but we can be certain that his aggression in the House of Commons, and outside, will keep Sunak on his toes.
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