Sir Keir Starmer’s usually private wife came into the public eye today as the couple celebrated Labour’s big election win with a passionate kiss.
Just hours before starting a new life in Downing Street, Lady Victoria closed her eyes and enjoyed a hug with Sir Keir after his speech at a victory rally in central London this morning.
This public display of affection was unusual for Sir Keir’s ‘reluctant First Lady’ – a woman known for her bold and straightforward nature. The first thing she said after meeting him was: ‘Who does he think he is?’ But she can’t avoid the spotlight anymore, and today Lady Victoria Starmer will move into No 10 with her husband after Labour’s big win over the Tories.
‘Lady Vic’, as she’s known in party circles, has stayed out of the election campaign completely.
But later she will wave with her husband on the steps of No 10 this afternoon, though their two teenage children, who are reportedly nervous about being in the public eye, will likely 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 kept their 13-year-old daughter out of the public eye, never naming their children in public. Mr. and Mrs. Starmer married 17 years ago, but their relationship had a rocky start. Falling in love and having a family was not something they expected when a young Sir Keir questioned the quality of her work.
Mrs. Starmer, then a lawyer and now an occupational therapist planning to continue working in the NHS, was very upset at the arrogant young barrister because her work was perfect. Unlike the outgoing prime minister Rishi Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty – a wealthy heiress to IT firm Infosys’s fortune – not much is known about Lady Victoria Starmer.
Sir Keir has said that she ‘has her own life and protects it strongly’.
Lady Vic’s father was an economics lecturer who moved to the UK from Poland before World War II. Her father is Jewish, and her mother, who died in 2020, was a community doctor who converted to Judaism.
Despite the working-class background her husband often talks about, she went to the exclusive private Channing School in Highgate, one of London’s most exclusive areas.
She earned degrees in law and sociology from Cardiff University, where she was president of the student union from 1995 to 1996.
About four years later, Britain’s First Couple met but had a big argument that ended with Mrs. Starmer telling him to get lost after asking if she was sure her work was correct.
Sir Keir later told Vogue: ‘It was classic Vic. Very bold, very down to earth, no nonsense from anyone, including me.’
Despite this, he asked her out to a pub to make up for his mistake. She gave him a second chance, and fast forward to today, they have been married for 17 years.
She was by his side as the election results came in.
Party insiders have said that her absence was to protect the couple’s children, who are nervous about being in Downing Street and the public eye.
