Victoria, Lady Starmer (née Alexander; born 1973 or 1974) is a British former solicitor and the wife of Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and leader of the Labour Party. As of July 2024, she works for the National Health Service (NHS) as an occupational health worker.

Early life

Starmer was born Victoria Alexander in London in 1973 or 1974, and raised in Gospel Oak, north west London. Her father Bernard, an economics lecturer, is an observant Jew who was born in Hackney in 1929 to a Polish-Jewish family that migrated to the United Kingdom before World War II. Her mother, Barbara, who died in 2020, was a community doctor in the National Health Service (NHS) and converted to Judaism upon marriage. Starmer has an older sister, Judith.

She was educated at Channing School in Highgate, London, and later graduated with degrees in law and sociology from Cardiff University, where she was president of the student union from 1994 to 1995.

Career

Starmer qualified as a solicitor four years after graduating, and worked for Hodge Jones & Allen, a Soho law firm specialising in street crime. Since getting married, she has worked as an occupational health worker for the NHS.

Starmer ministry

After the Labour Party's landslide victory in the 2024 general election, Starmer accompanied her husband to Buckingham Palace to meet King Charles III for his formal appointment as Prime Minister. Afterwards, she accompanied him to 10 Downing Street where he made his first speech as PM.

Starmer will reportedly continue in her role at the NHS and is expected to keep a relatively low profile.

Personal life

Starmer has been a supporter of the Labour Party since at least her student years, notably protesting against the education reforms of the then-Tory education secretary John Patten during her tenure as Cardiff University's education and welfare officer in 1993.

Victoria met Keir Starmer, who was then a senior barrister with Doughty Street Chambers, in the early 2000s, reportedly saying "Who the fuck does he think he is?" after their first conversation. The two eventually became close, getting engaged in 2004 and married on 6 May 2007 on the Fennes Estate in Essex. The couple have two children, a son, who was born a year after their wedding, and a daughter, born two years after that. Both are being brought up in the Jewish faith of their mother.

After her husband was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to law and justice by Queen Elizabeth II, Victoria is officially known as "Lady Starmer". Until moving to Downing Street, the couple resided in Kentish Town, north London.

Starmer is a vegetarian. She and her husband raised their children as vegetarians until they were 10 years old, at which point they were given the option of eating meat. She and her family occasionally attend a liberal synagogue.

She kept a relatively low profile during the 2024 general election, chosing not to appear on the campaign trail. She did, however, make appearances at Labour conferences and state banquets which were held during the campaign. Reportedly, Labour Party staff refer to her as "Lady Vic".