The coming months are a potentially make-or-break period for the Labour party, Keir Starmer has told Piers Morgan in an in-depth TV interview that also covered areas including his early life and family, legal career, and intense dislike for his middle name. Starmer said that after a tricky few weeks for his leadership of Labour he was hopeful that, post-Covid restrictions, a summer speaking to sceptical voters could help turn the tide. “Let me get out there, let me take the mask off. As we come out of this, it allows the political space to open up, and allow me to open up,” he told ITV’s Piers Morgan’s Life Stories. Asked if this was a pivotal moment for Labour, Starmer replied: “Yes – for me, for my party, this chance at the next election isn’t going to come again. We’ve lost four in a row. This is not about me, it’s about what’s right for our country.” The hour-long, often intensely personal interview included contributions from friends and from Labour colleagues, including Neil Kinnock and Gordon Brown, and featured photographs of the young Starmer, including one from his university days in which he poses wearing a sleeveless shirt and eyeliner.
Starmer said one reason he agreed to the interview was because it was being filmed with a studio audience: “I’ve been Labour leader for 14 months, and actually this is the first time I’ve had an audience.” Being told by Morgan he was known by friends as the “life and soul” of social events, and a loud presence when playing football, Starmer tried to explain why his parliamentary persona was so much more low-key: “There’s a big difference between the forensic lawyer and Keir on the football pitch. If I was Keir on the football pitch I think I’d be chucked out by the Speaker.” A long section of the interview concerned Starmer’s family, and he became emotional when talking about the ill-health suffered by his mother, who had the rare autoimmune inflammatory condition Still’s disease, and died weeks before he became and MP in 2015. Starmer described how his father deteriorated rapidly afterwards, before also dying, saying: “When she died it broke him. He lived but he didn’t recover.” Under questioning from Morgan, the Labour leader revealed his middle name – Rodney – and the fact his dislike for it is so strong that he did not use his full name in his wedding vows. • This article was amended on 4 June 2021 to add a credit for the photograph of a young Keir Starmer, which was taken by Andrew Smith.