'Sir' Keir Starmer vs. 'Mr. Nobody' Rishi Sunak: Meet UK's next likely prime minister

LONDON − First of all, he's a "Sir," a knight. It's Sir Keir Starmer to you and me.

Starmer is the leader of the British opposition Labour Party. And if the polls are accurate, he also appears destined to be the country's next prime minister, now that the current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak − who Starmer once labelled a "Mr. Nobody" who "simply doesn't get Britain" − called a surprise election.

It takes place July 4.

The vote will arrive after more than a decade of center-right Conservative Party rule in Britain. It's a period that witnessed a deep global financial crisis, Britain's exit from the European Union, the COVID-19 pandemic, an immigration surge, and high inflation and low economic growth that has made many in the country feel poorer.

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Starmer, 61, has promised to "end the chaos" and bring stability with a center-left Labour government that prioritizes the party's roots in support for more generous and fit-for-purpose state welfare policies. He has pledged to nationalize some infrastructure, such as train lines and at least one energy firm. He says he will crack down on wealthy tax evaders, recruit more teachers and bring down waiting lists at Britain's public hospitals.

Britain elects a party, not a specific leader. Starmer has been in the role since 2020 after his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn stepped down in a hail of catastrophically poor election results and toxic antisemitic claims from inside and outside the party. Because foreign policy in Britain is generally viewed as a bipartisan issue, Starmer is unlikely to make major changes to Britain's position on the major world affairs themes of the day, from the war in Ukraine to how to deal with a rising China. The storied U.S.-British "special relationship" also won't change.

Keir Starmer: 'lefty London lawyer' who's a little dull

Starmer's known for being methodical, for his professionalism, his grasp of policy detail. He's also easy to parody. British media often describe him as just a little bit boring and colorless, with a flat, nasal vocal delivery. In public addresses he usually talks about "five-point plans" as if he's consulting a power-point-type presentation.

His political opponents caricature him as a dull "lefty London lawyer."

Starmer was awarded his knighthood in 2014 for his work as a prosecutor. Before Starmer got into politics, he was a human rights lawyer who worked on high-profile cases in Britain, including that of a Black teenager who was murdered in a racially motivated attack in 1993 while waiting for a bus.

Starmer helped bring his killers to justice.

"He came to the bar to represent tenants, rather than landlords," Britain's former chief public prosector Ken McDonald said of Starmer in a podcast interview about him from last year called "The real Keir Starmer."

Starmer was born in London and often says he had a typically average upbringing in a lower-middle-class family. His father made tools and his mother was a nurse, who developed a rare autoimmune condition when her son was 11. It required having her limbs amputated. "She could barely walk for most of her life," Starmer has said.

He is married and has two teenage children. He studied law, first at the University of Leeds, then the University of Oxford. He's a fan of Arsenal, a Premier League soccer team whose rise to near the top of that league over the last several years has to some extent mirrored Starmer's own ascendency.

Keir Starmer's big advantage: He's not Rishi Sunak

In some ways, Starmer is a study in contrasts with Sunak, a slick former investment banker and U.K. Treasury chief, whose billionaire wife Akshata Murty − heir to an Indian tech fortune − has repeatedly sought to portray her husband in interviews as someone who's "fun, he's thoughtful, he’s compassionate and he has an incredible zest for life." In most public appearances, Sunak comes across as a technocrat; a management consultant with a tin ear, whose jokes, banter and attempts to connect to ordinary voters fall flat.

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In some ways, Sunak and Starmer may prove to be alike.

When Starmer branded his political rival "Mr Nobody" during an exchange in Parliament, he said Sunak was constantly flip-flopping on all his campaign pledges and plans from immigration to public infrastructure and that it was hard to really know what the prime minister stood for, if anything at all. As the election has neared, Starmer, too, has made policy U-turns of his own, such as abandoning a $35 billion green investment plan, a 2021 pledge.

After the Corbyn years, he has also moved his party to the center, which has alienated some people. Under his leadership, the party dropped its more overtly "socialist" policies and apologized for the antisemitism that appeared to take hold under Corbyn.

"Change is both Starmer’s opportunity and his burden," wrote the columnist Simon Jenkins in an opinion piece for The Guardian newspaper Thursday. "His slogan is starkly negative. It is to be not Sunak."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Keir Starmer to challenge Rishi Sunak in UK election: Who is he?