LADY Victoria Starmer can currently walk to work without any fanfare and pop to the supermarket for milk minus many shoppers batting an eyelid – but that could soon all change.
If husband Sir Keir Starmer swoops into Number 10 on Friday in a much-predicted landslide, she’ll have to come out of her North London cocoon and into the global limelight.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, with his wife Victoria, on stage at the Royal Horticultural Halls in central London, on June 29PA
APStarmer and Victoria leave the Labour Party conference keynote speech last October[/caption]
The Starmers walk along Brighton seafront during the Labour conferenceAlamy
GettyThe couple have breakfast in the Pullman hotel before his keynote speech in October[/caption]
The NHS occupational therapist, in her 50s, married her human rights barrister fiancé 17 years ago, never dreaming of moving into the PM’s flat in Downing Street.
She’s previously made it clear she didn’t even want to think about relocating from the family base – a £1.75 million townhouse in Kentish Town.
With Sir Keir, 61, on the campaign trail, Victoria was making sure the couple’s 15-year-old son Toby was eating properly as he prepared for his marathon 21 GCSE exams this summer.
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“Vic is lovely, but private and she likes it that way,” a friend told Tatler.
That’s not to say Lady Victoria’s been against glamming up in a red dress for the annual Labour Party conferences or attending state banquets on occasion in recent years – last week she was at Buckingham Palace.
And if Sir Keir wins the election she will have to play hostess even more, while facing the same sort of scrutiny Rishi Sunak‘s wife Akshata Murty does.
Victoria’s been praised for her recent fashion choices when venturing into public life.
Her polished silhouettes have brought comparisons to Princess Kate.
But it’s clear she won’t simply bow to the image of the US-style First Lady or sacrifice her principles.
Her family will always come first and Victoria and Sir Keir won’t become a commodity.
A friend told The Times: “They won’t be doing a Tony and Cherie, Vic won’t open her door to the press on July 5 unprepared in her nightdress, but they also won’t be clustered outside No 10, Keir with a mug in his hand, his family smiling adoringly up at him.
“Victoria will stand by her man, the kids will use the back door.”
Cherie Blair – wife of Tony who oversaw the last Labour landslide in 1997 – has this week offered her the following advice: “Some people will dislike you not for anything you do but because of what you represent. The most important thing is to be true to yourself.”
WHO IS LADY VICTORIA STARMER?
Victoria was born and raised with her sister Judith in her husband’s Holborn & St Pancras constituency.
Their mum was a community doctor.
Her dad and his family are Jewish, originally from Poland.
Her grandparents on that side fled a village near Kolo before the Second World War.
Victoria still undertakes some practices of the religion, including Friday prayers.
The future Mrs Starmer went onto private day school Channing in Highgate, then to Cardiff University to study law and sociology.
She became president of the student’s union but never had ambitions of going into politics.
She was, however, involved with the Labour Party years before her now husband.
Victoria qualified as a solicitor, specialising in street crime and then fraud.
Her friend said: “She is not Bridget Jones, she’s much brighter, cooler and sharper.”
Fellow lawyer Sir Keir – prior to them being an item – is said to have once rang her in 2006 to grill her about the accuracy of some documents and before hanging up, he heard her tell a colleague “who the f*** does he think he is?”
Weeks later they met at a legal dinner before going on their first date to the Lord Stanley pub in Camden.
He walked her to the bus stop afterwards.
Sir Keir proposed on a trip to Greece without an engagement ring.
They got married in May 2007 on the Fennes Estate in Essex.
A cousin told The Times his parents Rod and Jo were quickly taken by their “feisty” daughter-in-law, adding: “The idea she is a shrinking violet is b******.”
A pal said Victoria never saw her ambitious husband going into politics because of the disruption it would cause to their lives.
She became a school governor at the same time Sir Keir became local MP in 2015.
Aside from the Clooneys, the couple have no celebrity friends and just as few political pals.
Some Labour MPs told Tatler last month that they had never even met their party leader’s wife.
Victoria was described by one school run parent as a “cool north London mum” who wears skinny jeans, ankle boots, simple jewellery and oversized sunglasses.
She is understood to be very clear that she will continue her beloved day job and is not involved in day-to-day issues involving her husband’s politics.
But she is said to be the person who he calls before making a final decision.
Sir Keir talks through all of his ideas with her, previously describing his wife as “streetwise, grounded” and someone “who wants as far as she can to get on with her own life and protect it”.
It’s said that if aides want to quickly get through to Sir Keir – who distrusts many in politics and the media – they tell Victoria to put a word in.
Victoria’s mother died four years ago and Sir Keir suspended his leadership campaign while the family grieved.
Her passions include horse racing and she is a vegetarian, as is her daughter, aged 13; the Starmers like to quietly holiday in South Wales.
Sir Keir describes his wife as someone who has been able to “reduce my impatience over the years”.
It’s certain Victoria will have a calming influence on the Labour leader if he inevitably takes the top job.
But she will do it on her terms.
GettyKeir and Victoria at Buckingham Palace on June 25[/caption]
Keir and Victoria applaud for key workers outside their home in 2020Getty
The TimesThe couple in more casual wear during the party conference[/caption]
© Nigel Howard / NIGEL HOWARD MEDIAThe Starmers during the General Election 2017 count[/caption]
Victoria – then Vicky Alexander – poses on the steps of the Students Union Building in Cardiff in 1993Alamy