THE new Labour leader, Keir Starmer was knighted several years ago, making him a “sir”.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Why is Keir Starmer a Sir?
The labour leader’s official title is Sir Keir Starmer, but he prefers people not to use it.
He told the Ham & High newspaper that he has “never liked titles”.
He said: “When I was DPP, everyone called me director and I said, ‘Please don’t call me director, call me Keir Starmer.’ It’s a very similar battle now.”
He is a sir because of his knighthood, which he received for “services to law and criminal justice”.
When did he get his knighthood?
Keir Starmer was knighted in 2014.
At the time he had just stepped down as head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) by the Attorney General.
The DPP is the head of the CPS – meaning Mr Starmer was responsible for some 7,000 staff and an estimated 800,000 prosecutions each year.
He held the role for five years, between 2008 and 2013.
According to the Independent, all of Starmer’s predecessors in the role were also awarded knighthoods.
Why was Keir Starmer awarded a knighthood?
Mr Starmer was knighted for “services to law and criminal justice”.
Throughout his illustrious law career he worked on a number of huge cases, including the successful retrial of Steven Lawrence’s killers and the prosecution of a metropolitan police officer following the death of newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson.
As well as these, he prosecuted Energy Secretary Chris Huhne and his former wife, Vicky Pryce fro perverting the course of justice.
Huhne was the first politician in British history to resign over criminal charges.
The self-described socialist also worked to abolish the death penalty in several Caribbean countries.
