His voice quavering, this was a rare glimpse of Keir Starmer the man
Sir Keir was visibly emotional as he paid tribute to his family outside No 10
Sir Keir Starmer has spent his short time as Prime Minister struggling to connect with the British public.
But his resignation speech outside No 10 gave a rare glimpse of the man behind the sometimes robotic public persona.
His voice cracked and quavered with emotion as he paid tribute to his wife, Victoria, and his two teenage children.
“When I leave the biggest job in the country, I shall spend more time on the most important job,” he said.
“Being the best husband I can to my fantastic wife Vic, who has been a rock by my side through good times and bad.
“And being the best dad I can to my beautiful children, who are my pride and my joy.”
It was the one moment during his short, six-minute speech when the toll of the last couple of years became clearly visible.
After all, those who hold the highest political office are human beings - an obvious point, perhaps, but one that sometimes seems to be forgotten in the frenzied atmosphere of modern politics.
They make huge sacrifices to serve their country, and it is often their loved ones who feel it most.
When Sir Keir entered Downing Street after the Labour landslide of 2024, he hailed the return of the “sunlight of hope” after 14 tumultuous years of Conservative rule.
But it didn’t take long for dark clouds to gather thanks to both inherited circumstances and his own poor political judgement. He struggled to cut through and articulate his vision for the country, and his popularity plummeted.
This was a source of huge frustration in Scotland, where Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, called for him to quit back in February. It made little difference, and Labour suffered a humiliating defeat at the Holyrood election in May - largely blamed on No 10.
During his short speech outside No 10, Sir Keir listed his achievements, citing rising wages, falling NHS waiting lists, an uplift in defence spending, improvements in workers’ rights, and half a million children lifted out of poverty, among other measures.
No doubt his political legacy will be the subject of much debate in the coming days and weeks.
But even his most ardent critics must surely have felt a twinge of sympathy as Sir Keir choked back emotion in front of the world’s television cameras on Monday morning.
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