Responsible, management-minded, a little boring - Keir Starmer is not your typical fiery politician.
The Labor Party, which won a landslide majority in yesterday's general election, hopes that this is exactly what Britain wants and needs after 14 turbulent years of Conservative rule.
Starmer spent four years as opposition leader moving his social democratic party from the left of the political spectrum towards the centre. His message to voters is that a Labor government will bring change - reassuring, not terrifying.
"A vote for Labor is a vote for stability - economic and political," Starmer said after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called an election on May 22.
He recently told the Financial Times that his slogan could be "Make Britain Serious Again". "A certain level of sustained seriousness is sorely needed across the country."
A former human rights lawyer, then Attorney General for England and Wales between 2008 and 2013, Sir Keir Starmer (61) will be the first Labor Prime Minister since 2010. He was knighted in 2014 for his role in leading the Crown Prosecution Service.
His conservative opponents often use that title to portray him as elitist and out of touch with real life. Starmer prefers to emphasize his down-to-earth characteristics and humble roots, unlike Sunak, who is a former Goldman Sachs banker and is married to a billionaire's daughter.
He is a football fan, who still plays at weekends, and enjoys watching Arsenal over a beer in the local pub. With his wife Victoria, who works in the field of occupational medicine, he has two teenage children whom they try to keep out of the public eye.
Starmer's father was a toolmaker and his mother a nurse. As passionate leftists, they named after Kir Hardy, one of the founders of the Labor Party. As one of four children, he grew up in a financially struggling family in a small town near London.
"There have been difficult times," he said in a speech at the start of the campaign. "I know the feeling of rampant inflation, how the rising cost of living makes you dread the postman. Is he going to bring another bill we can't pay?"
"Usually we would choose not to pay the phone bill, because when they turned it off, that was the easiest thing to deal with."
Starmer prefers to emphasize his down-to-earth characteristics and humble roots, unlike Sunak, who is a former Goldman Sachs banker and is married to a billionaire's daughter.
Starmer's mother suffered from a chronic condition, Steele's disease, and he said his hospital visits and helping with her care helped form strong support for the state-funded National Health Service.
He was the first member of his family to go to college, studying law at the University of Leeds and Oxford.
He entered politics in his 50s and was elected to parliament in 2015. He often disagreed with party leader Jeremy Corbyn, a staunch socialist, and at one point quit the party leadership over disagreements, but agreed to serve as Labour's Brexit spokesman under Corbyn's leadership.
Starmer faced questions about the decision and about encouraging voters to support Corbyn during the 2019 election. He said he wanted to stay and fight for a change in Labour, arguing that "leaders are temporary but political parties are permanent".
After Corbyn led Labor to election defeats in 2017 and 2019, the latter being the party's worst result since 1935, the party chose Starmer in 2020 to lead the rebuilding effort.
Yesterday's election has a special significance because it comes after a particularly turbulent period in British politics. Voters are tired of a cost-of-living crisis, a wave of public sector strikes and political turmoil that has seen the Conservative Party see off two prime ministers within weeks in 2022 before installing Sunak to try to stabilize the situation.
Prime Minister David Cameron's austerity program, the 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union, the post-Brexit negotiations that brought down Theresa May, the rise and fall of Boris Johnson sparked by the "Partygate" scandal when he and other senior officials broke Covid rules during the pandemic, and the record-short 50-day tenure of Liz Truss as Prime Minister - all this happened during a 14-year period that many characterized as chaotic.
Even during the election campaign, scandal dogged the Conservative Party when it emerged that senior officials had been accused of using insider information on the date of the election to place bets.
This election has particular significance as it comes after a particularly turbulent period in British politics. Voters are tired of the cost of living crisis, a wave of public sector strikes and the political turmoil that saw the Conservative Party see off two prime ministers within weeks of 2022.
Starmer's management of the party also coincided with a period of economic shock from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
He has restored order in a party known for its internal divisions, repudiated some of Corbyn's more openly socialist policies and apologized for anti-Semitism which an internal inquiry concluded was allowed to run rampant while Corbyn led the party.
"This is a great nation, with unlimited potential. The British people deserve a government that matches their ambitions. Today is an opportunity to start the work of rebuilding Britain with Labour," Starmer said ahead of the vote.
He promised "a change of culture in the Labor Party". Now his motto is "state before party".
Starmer was a strong opponent of Britain's decision to leave the EU, although he now says a Labor government would not seek to reverse it.
Critics say it shows a lack of political principle. Supporters say it is pragmatic and respects the fact that British voters are in no mood to reignite the divisive Brexit debate.
Starmer says a Labor government should be able to generate enough economic growth to avoid raising taxes, which previous Tory governments have failed to do. He must convince voters that the government can ease Britain's chronic housing crisis and improve the state of public services, particularly the overburdened health system - but without raising taxes or deepening the public debt.
"There is no magic solution that we can apply the day after the election, there are no quick fixes, and we will have to do our best," he said. "But this is a very serious plan for economic growth... I can't pretend that private investment will start immediately, but you won't wait five years for results".
However, he will have few options for action, given that the tax burden will reach its highest level since 1949 and the net debt will be almost equal to annual economic output.
At the heart of Starmer's plans will be the creation of cross-departmental committees responsible for making progress on the five missions of the Labor Party: economic growth, the National Health Service, crime and justice, affordable green energy and improving opportunities.
Prisons are at the top of the priority list, with governors warning they will run out of space within days, meaning Starmer will likely have to agree to early releases to avoid bringing the criminal justice system to a complete halt. "The red light went on," said one official.
To the disappointment of some Labor supporters, he scaled back a pledge to spend billions investing in green technology, saying a Labor government would not take the country further into debt to fund public spending.
"Many on the left will accuse him of failing them and betraying socialist principles. On the other hand, many on the right will accuse him of constantly changing his views," said Tim Bale, a political scientist at Queen Mary University of London.
"But if that's what it takes to win, I think it says something about Starmer's character. He will do whatever it takes - and he did whatever it takes - to get into power."
The party saw a big surge in the polls under his leadership, which helped Starmer's internal critics stick with him.
"The party is completely unrecognizable compared to what it was a few years ago," said Rachel Reeves, shadow finance minister.
Starmer's firm control over Labor is evident in the party's strict candidate selection procedure. Last July, left-wing North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll was banned from re-election after appearing in public with Ken Loach, the film director who was kicked out of Labor in 2021.
At the party's congress in October, Starmer showed a moment of passion, telling delighted delegates: "I grew up in the working class. I've been fighting all my life. And I'm not going to stop now". He also showed remarkable composure when a protester ran onto the stage and doused Starmer in glitter and glue.
Starmer's closest aides say that, unlike some of his more spectacular predecessors, he is not prone to dramatization. "It's not politics as a spectacle. It's politics designed to bring better results," said one insider to "The Guardian".
During his time at the Public Prosecution Service, one of Starmer's proudest reforms was replacing paper files with digital ones. It may not have made many headlines in the media, but it speeded up the criminal justice process and reduced the loss of files.
His focus on simple problem solving is likely to be at the core of his rule. When viewed in isolation, some measures may not seem particularly ambitious, but even a bit boring. But his team argues that these will be the foundations that will create something significant.
"He will rule the way he led the Labor Party," a shadow minister told The Guardian. "He doesn't create drama. He's very methodical and analytical. He just gets down to business, wants to solve problems."
Tom Baldwin, Starmer's biographer, uses the analogy of a mountaineer trapped in a deep gorge. "A radical politician will announce that he has an exciting new plan to get out using his teeth. He gets a lot of attention for it, but ends up on his knees with no teeth.
"Starmer says, 'Let's use the track.' Nobody pays him much attention because it's a bit boring. He's already halfway out of the gorge before you notice him. Cyrus is going step by step, but he's tireless in his fight for the goal."
Starmer says he inherited his resilience from his mother, who, despite battling pain and multiple surgeries, never complained.
"They told her that she wouldn't be able to walk when she turned 20 and that she wouldn't be able to have children. She also denied that."
Some have compared this election to 1997, when Tony Blair led Labor to a landslide victory with 418 out of 650 seats after 18 years of Conservative rule.
"That year was special, the transition to a new century, the economy was growing, there was a euphoria of progress... Now we are not at that moment, and we have to address the voters according to their current needs. I think people need hope, but that has to be what I I call ordinary hope, realistic hope".
Bale says Starmer lacks Blair's charisma. But, he added, "given the turmoil the British have had to endure since the Brexit referendum, I don't think a little boredom would go down too badly with the public."
The special relationship with the US is above personality
While foreign policy was barely mentioned during the campaign, within 24 hours of taking office, Starmer will field calls from world leaders, with particular attention paid to whether Joe Biden is at the top of the list, or Volodymyr Zelensky to emphasize the continuation of support to Ukraine.
A three-day summit of NATO members in Washington next week will finally allow him to meet the US president in person, although aides say Starmer is aware that Donald Trump could return to the Oval Office.
When asked how Prime Minister Starmer would behave in relations with the re-elected President Trump, he replied "As an adult".
"Each country chooses its leader according to its wishes. The special relationship between Great Britain and the USA has existed for a long time and goes beyond current political figures," he told the "Financial Times".
Starmer pledged to continue financial support for Ukraine and to encourage NATO allies to do the same
Unlike Corbyn, who was skeptical of American foreign policy and NATO, Starmer plans to say at the summit that he is proud of Britain's membership in the transatlantic security alliance.
The summit will focus on Ukraine and, after Rishi Sunak claimed Britain would be less safe under a Labor government, Starmer will want to stress the importance of defense and national security. He has already promised to continue Sunak's multi-year financial support to Ukraine and to encourage NATO allies to do the same.
When it comes to the Middle East, Labor stated in its pre-election manifesto that it will continue to insist on a ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages, respect for international law and increased aid to the territory.
The party is committed to recognizing the Palestinian state as a contribution to the renewal of the peace process that results in a two-state solution.
Labor said it would take a "long-term and strategic approach" to managing Britain's relationship with China. They said that they will "cooperate where we can, compete where we should and oppose where we have to".
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