Keir Starmer: Britain’s new leader who takes politics seriously

Former human rights lawyer has pledged stability and moderation' after taking Labour party back into power

Keir Starmer, who has just secured the biggest election victory in the UK this century to become prime minister, is considered reserved by the British public. In marked contrast to his best-known recent predecessor, the joke-telling Boris Johnson, Starmer invests the task of being a political leader with considerable seriousness, reflecting a career in which he was previously a human rights lawyer and, for five years from 2008, Britain's chief public prosecutor.

Making his first speech as prime minister outside 10 Downing Street on Friday, Starmer said with characteristic understatement that he would be a leader for stability and moderation" and pledged change, national renewal and a return to the politics of public service".