Sir Keir Starmer has been the MP for Holborn and St Pancras for eleven years

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SIR Keir Starmer – the former UK prime minister and Labour Party leader – is to step down as the MP for Holborn and St Pancras, the New Journal can exclusively reveal.

After weeks of speculation about his future plans, he chose his local newspaper to explain why he felt it was the “right time” to leave the House of Commons and concentrate on new work on international affairs.

He told the New Journal that, after leaving Downing Street at the end of July, he had reflected on what lay ahead and that he was ready to “pass the baton to a successor”, adding: “It has been a huge honour and privilege to represent the best constituency in the country and to have taken over from Frank Dobson, who was such a great constituency MP and a member of the last Labour government. I will now focus on other things and that will be international affairs including defence, security, trade and technology in a fast-changing world.

“I will also continue, as I have done for a long time now with others, work on combating violence against women and girls; that is an issue that matters to me hugely. It’s work I started before I became an MP and it’s work I’m keen to continue after I’m an MP. So international affairs on the one hand, and continuing my work on violence against women and girls on the other.”

He has informed local Labour constituency party staff of his decision to leave parliament after eleven years representing the constituency in the south of the borough. The party will now begin a selection process to find a candidate for a resulting by-election. Only the second time the vacancy has become free in 47 years, there will be no shortage of interest in what has traditionally been viewed as a safe Labour seat.

While his critics have not held back in their analysis of his two years as prime minister, Mr Starmer is defensive of how he feels he changed both his party and the country.

“I want to thank all of those I was privileged to work with in the constituency on issues that matter hugely: affordable housing, first class education and the work we did on knife crime through the Camden youth support, which was really, really important,” he said.

“In terms of some of the things that have changed: we are opening ten breakfast clubs across the constituency – five of them opened in April, five more will be opened when the schools go back this week. I think breakfast clubs make a huge difference for children and parents because everybody knows that a child that hasn’t eaten before they try to start learning is not going to learn as well as other children.”

Mr Starmer at an election count in Somers Town and, below, meeting children at Hawley School in Camden Town earlier this year

“Free school meals are coming again this week, that’s 4,600 children in the constituency that will now benefit, the minimum wage increase will make a difference to thousands of workers across Camden who are on or near the minimum wage and there’s an increase in the number of GPs. The two child benefit cap being lifted will affect 2,500 children in the constituency who will now begin to be lifted out of poverty. Then there’s the Renters’ Rights Act – 16,500 renters in Holborn and St Pancras – and of course everybody who is at work will benefit under the Employment Rights Act.”

Mr Starmer had lived in the borough for many years but had not been involved in local politics while working in the politically sensitive role of Director of Public Prosecutions. When he left that job, however, he emerged as a likely successor to Mr Dobson, who had been the area’s MP for 35 years and was ready to announce his retirement.

Mr Starmer became the parliamentary candidate as the runaway winner in a contest against the then council leader Sarah Hayward and campaigning lawyer Raj Chada at a packed selection meeting at St Pancras Church ahead of the 2015 general election. Labour failed to unseat the Tories, however, and Ed Miliband’s resignation led to some calls from within the party for Mr Starmer to immediately put himself forward as a potential leader. He instead supported Andy Burnham but members chose Jeremy Corbyn to take over. He served on Mr Corbyn’s shadow front bench but later became a staunch critic and talked of how he had to change the party once he took over himself.

Mr Starmer left Downing Street earlier this summer applauded by party staff and local Labour members who had been invited to both his first day and his farewell – and while there had been obvious pressure from within the party to make way for his successor, ironically Mr Burnham, he said that the local CLP “always had my back”, adding: “They have been resolute in their support for me: firstly in becoming an MP and then becoming the leader of Labour Party and then as Prime Minister. I couldn’t have asked for a better, more supportive constituency Labour party. They have always had my back, and my constituency staff have worked tirelessly on casework and campaigns, and making sure that constituency concerns are picked up and dealt with efficiently.

“My years on the front line were basically six and a half years because it was from picking up the Labour Party in 2019 from the worst election result since 1935 and turning it around to a general election landslide victory in 2024, while most people said it wouldn’t be possible to win the election in 2024 – let alone win it with a landslide. No leader has ever pulled such a swing across from such a low base to a landslide in the way that we did.”

Mr Starmer catching up on the new during the early days of his time as the MP for Holborn and St Pancras and, below, his last day at Downing Street

“I’m proud of what we delivered. I’ve achieved it by being a locally based MP with a fantastically supportive CLP. Without them, it wouldn’t be possible for me to step up and lead the Labour Party and then change the Labour Party to face the country and put it in a position to win the election and be in government.”

In terms of what his next steps will be on the international scene, it is understood that more detail is likely to be set out in the coming months, but he added: “I think once you’ve been prime minister, it’s important to answer the question: what are you going to do next? Having decided I’m going to concentrate on international affairs, I think it’s right to step down [as MP].”

Mr Starmer said he would follow in the footsteps of Mr Dobson by not publicly endorsing anybody who might be his successor at this stage but would then support whoever is selected, adding: “The Constituency Labour Party has got many, many fantastic people and there will be no shortage of first class candidates.”

Interest in the position is likely to come from inside and outside the borough. The timetable for choosing someone will be set out in the coming weeks.

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