The season five finale coincides with the general election, so we’ve decided to get very topical indeed with the story of Labour leader and likely prime minister Keir Starmer. To his admirers, he’s the master strategist who took Labour from doom to Downing Street in a single term. To his foes, he’s a ruthless liar who will stop at nothing to crush the left. To the average voter, he remains a bit of a blank slate. What kind of prime minister will he be?

Ian and Dorian trace Starmer’s youthful journey from working-class Surrey socialist to indie-loving, centrist-bashing law student, explaining the legacy of a difficult childhood. He was the star human rights lawyer, at the heart of 1990s controversies from the McLibel case to policing in Northern Ireland, who became the country’s top prosecutor and then a knight of the realm. At the age of 52, he entered politics and soon found himself on the frontline of the Brexit wars, butting heads with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. We end with his leadership of the party and the price of victory.

Why is Starmer such a closed book in public? How did he go from radical socialist to centrist dad? What went down between him and Corbyn? Was he really an arch-remainer? When did he almost throw in the towel? And what are the core values that might define his premiership? Discover all this and more in the story of our next prime minister.

• Pre-order the forthcoming Origin Stories books on Centrism, Fascism and Conspiracy Theory and get 20% off using the special discount code revealed in the podcast. 

• Support Origin Story on Patreon

Reading list

Tom Baldwin - Keir Starmer: The Biography (2024)

Oliver Eagleton – The Starmer Project: A Journey to the Right (2022)

Gabriel Pogrund and Patrick Maguire – Left Out: The Inside Story of Labour Under Corbyn (2020)

Tim Shipman – Fall Out: A Year of Political Mayhem (2017)

Articles and podcasts

Emily Ashton, ‘Keir Starmer Is Not Who You Think He Is’, Buzzfeed (2020)

Elliott Chappell, ‘Interview with Keir Starmer’, Labour List (2020)

Desert Island Discs: Sir Keir Starmer (2020)

George Eaton, ‘What Is Starmerism?’, The New Statesman (2024)

Charlotte Edwardes, ‘“You asked me questions I’ve never asked myself”: Keir Starmer’s most personal interview yet’

The Guardian, ‘In Praise of… Keir Starmer’, The Guardian (2009)

Billy Kenber, ‘Keir Starmer: Radical who attacked Kinnock in Marxist journal’, The Times (2020)

Keir Starmer, ‘Sorry, Mr Blair, but 1441 does not authorise force’, The Guardian (2003)

Written and presented by Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey. Producer: Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Art by Jim Parrett. Logo by Mischa Welsh. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices