Sir Keir Starmer’s wife, who has been known for her privacy, emerged into the spotlight recently to celebrate the Labour party’s election victory with a kiss that displayed their affection publicly.
Lady Victoria, about to embark on a new chapter in Downing Street, shared an intimate moment with Sir Keir after his speech at a triumph rally in central London today.
This public display of affection was quite uncommon for Sir Keir’s wife, often described as the ‘reluctant First Lady’, a woman characterized by her strong personality and direct manner. In fact, upon meeting Sir Keir, her first words were notably sharp: ‘Who the f*** does he think he is?’
But she can avoid the limelight no longer, and today Lady Victoria Starmer will enter No 10 with her husband after Labour’s landslide victory and crushing of the Tories.
‘Lady Vic’, as she is known fondly in party circles, has been missing from the election campaign completely.
But later she will wave with her husband on the steps of No 10 this afternoon, although the couple’s two teenage children, said to be ‘completely freaked out’ by the idea of being in the public eye, are expected to enter their new home by the back door.
Moving into Downing Street comes just weeks after their 16-year-old son took his GCSEs. The couple have also shielded their 13-year-old daughter from the limelight – never naming either children or naming them in public.
Mr and Mrs Starmer married 17 years ago – but their relationship had a rocky start, and falling in love, let alone a marriage and children, couldn’t have been more far off when a young Sir Keir questioned the quality of her work.
Mrs Starmer, then a lawyer and now an occupational therapist who plans to continue to work in the NHS, went berserk at the arrogant young barrister because her drafting was perfect.
Unlike the outgoing prime minister Rishi Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty – a multi-millionaire heiress to IT firm Infosys’s $70billion (£54.9bn) fortune – not a great deal is known of Lady Victoria Starmer.
Sir Keir himself has said that she ‘has her own life and protects it vigorously’.
Lady Vic’s father was an economics lecturer who moved to the UK from Poland before the Second World War. Her father is Jewish and her mother, who died in 2020, was a community doctor who converted to the faith.
Far from the working class background her husband likes to talk about, she went to the exclusive private Channing School in Highgate – one of London’s most exclusive areas.
She secured degrees in law and sociology from Cardiff University, where she was president of the student union from 1995 to 1996.
Around four years later, Britain’s First Couple met – but had an almighty row when they met that ended with a shower of expletives from Mrs Starmer who then told him to get lost.
She slammed down the phone after yelling: ‘Who the f*** does he think he is?’ Keir heard it all but by 2007 they were married.
What sparked the cascade of swears? Her future husband asking if she was ‘100 per cent sure’ her work was correct.
Sir Keir later told Vogue: ‘It was absolutely classic Vic. Very sassy, very down to earth, no nonsense from anyone, including from me’.
Undeterred, he asked her down the pub to make up for his blunder. She gave him a second chance and fast forward to today they have been married for 17 years.
She has was by his side as the election results came in.
Party insiders have claimed that her absence was to protect the couple’s children because they are ‘completely freaked out by the idea of being in Downing Street and the public eye’.
Those close to the Labour leader say his ‘no-nonsense’ and ‘sassy’ wife has no qualms about ‘telling people about the real Keir’ – even if he has not found it easy himself.
Her straight-talking was clear from their first meeting in 2000, where she swore at him.
Undeterred, the future Labour leader asked her on a date to the Lord Stanley pub in Camden in the early 2000s, and they married in 2007.
They now share a £1.75million Kentish Town home with their two children – a teenager named Toby and a younger daughter whose name has not been made public.
Lady Victoria is Jewish, and Sir Keir has said he tries to uphold the Shabbat tradition of Friday night dinners as often as possible – despite being an atheist himself.
He previously told the Mirror: ‘She’s a streetwise grounded, brilliant, gorgeous woman who wants as far as she can to get on with her own life and to protect it.
‘She loves working for the NHS. She loves the team that she’s working with.
‘And she and I are doing our best to raise two happy and confident children and that matters hugely to us.’
Outside of her NHS work, she has also served as also a governor at her children’s school in Camden borough. In short, she has plenty to be getting on with should her husband become the new tenant in No 10.
As one insider presciently told The Telegraph in 2021: ‘If he ever gets into Downing Street, she’s going to be very much leading her own life.’
‘Lady Vic’ left law and retrained to be an occupational health therapist for the NHS in Camden, where they still live with their two teenage children.
Insiders have suggested that the shock election called by Rishi Sunak couldn’t have happened at a worse time for the family because the couple’s 15-year-old son is in the middle of his GCSE exams.
Labour was also quite clear that there will no interviews with Mrs Starmer before July 4.
Asked about his biggest fear if he becomes prime minister, Sir Keir replied on the Sky News debate: ‘The only real fear I suppose I have is for my family.’
He said his son is almost 16 years old and his daughter 13.
Sir Keir said: ‘My only fear really is the impact it’s going to have on them. That’s why we never name them in public, never have a photoshoot with them, I want them to be able to walk to school and have their own lives.
‘I don’t fear the big decisions, in fact I relish the chance to change our country.’
One insider said that he wants privacy for his family, especially his children who are at ‘really difficult ages’
The insiders said: ‘They have got teenagers who are completely freaked out by the idea of being in Downing Street or in any way being in the public eye.
‘It has got pretty heavy recently with children’s shoes, representing the dead kids in Gaza, being left outside the Starmer house – Sir Keir is determined that his family won’t be dragged into any of this.’
Earlier this month the Labour leader said his wife won’t give up her work if he becomes Prime Minister.
He said of Victoria: ‘She’s absolutely going to carry on working, she wants to and she loves it. It’s also good for me because it gives me an insight into the NHS.’
It isn’t the first time the potential future PM has spoken about his wife’s work in the health service – despite her keenness to remain out of the limelight.
Sir Keir said he wanted his teenage son’s education to be ‘untroubled’ by a potential move to No 10.
He said: ‘Our boy is in the middle of his GCSEs. At the moment I just want to create the environment where he can get on with what he’s got to get on with as untroubled as he can be.
‘He’s got 21 exams. My job is just to create space for him to get on with that.’
However, she is not an invisible spouse, and regularly appears with Sir Keir at public events and Labour party conferences. She stood on the doorstep to clap for carers, and stepped out with her husband to vote in the May local elections.
Comparisons have been made with Sarah Brown, wife of one-time Labour PM Gordon – someone who was content to be in the background with their own interests to pursue outside of their spouse’s politics.