Kier Starmer the New British Labour Party Leader and Kier Hardie the 1st Labour Leader: By Ann Smith.

Kier Hardie

Kier Starmer.  The name itself induces curiosity; an unusual name, a little magical, I have never taught a student named Kier in many years of teaching in the UK.  

The UK Labour party members now have Kier Starmer as their leader he replaces Jeremy Corbyn who lost to Boris Johnson at the last General Election.  At this news, I was elated during this truly miserable pandemic decimating our world.  Labour has a new leader!  He is called Kier Starmer!  He’s a Disney hero!  Starmer can save Britain!  Handsome and appealing to so many working class and middle-class families.  His wife is educated, good-looking, has two children, and Kier has a full head of hair!  OK, he is white – better to be from the Caribbean, Asian or of African descent to really grab multicultural Britain, but certainly Kier ticks many voting boxes.

Kier Starmer may be an ideal politician for the British voter. Born into an upper working-class family 55 years ago (I know this stuff; I have an A’ level in sociology).  Upper working class just like me.  His father was a toolmaker (my father too), his mother was a nurse (my mother was a bookkeeper). He has 4 siblings and passed the 11+ entrance exam into a Grammar school that paved his entry into law.  Well, I passed the 11+ but being a little rebellious and determined to enjoy a Punk lifestyle for some years, I did not pursue my teaching career until later in life. 

Now of course, Kier is certainly upper middle class.  Living in London with his solicitor wife, hanging out in the bar and bars of Central London.  Is there much to differentiate him now from Boris Johnson and his Eton cronies?  I am hopeful that Kier is very different from Boris.  I am hopeful that his history remains embedded in his soul as it does for me.  No matter where I live my preference is for the working class: their resilience, humour, lack of inhibition, their physicality, their history.  This is where I am even now because it is where I came from.  And Im happy to be there which is a difficult concept for many to understand.

The working class are the backbone of every country – they WORK often very hard in what many may describe as menial jobs.  This has been proven strongly throughout the period of pandemic.  Who are we applauding in the UK?  The working classes who are waking up and serving us in supermarkets, providing care and driving delivery vans. The educated working class who are nurses and teachers (yes, I argue that they are predominantly working class).  I am a teacher and work alongside working-class teachers who live in tough areas and teach in tough areas.  We may be homeowners and drive rather tatty cars (in my case) yet we know that a socialist society is the best for the majority – that is, the working and lower middle classes. A socialist society ensures free education   and healthcare for everyone, opportunity for everyone, a roof over everyone’s head (whether supported housing or private).  A socialist society knows that there must be free provision and support for those who struggle to contribute to society because of mental health difficulties or alcohol or drug dependency.

Then I discovered more connections – it’s all in the name: Kier Starmer was named after the first Labour leader in the UK, Kier Hardie. 

Born in Scotland in abject povery, Kier Hardie began work as a messenger boy at the age of seven, then at age ten he worked in the mines as a trapper.  Most importantly, he also studied, attending night school after ten-hour shifts. For the following 13 years he worked in the mines, a highly dangerous, unpleasant, physically exhausting job. During this time, he also began to represent his fellow miners through Union activity.   He first stood for parliament in 1888 as and then formed the Scottish Labour Party. Hardie won the English seat of West Ham South as an independent candidate in 1892 – my mother was born and lived in this area for many years - and one year later, he helped to form the Independent Labour Party (ILP). In 1990, he helped to form the union based Labour Representation Committee, which was later renamed the Labour Party.

 After the 1906 election, Hardie was chosen as the Labour Party's first parliamentary leader. It might be argued that Hardie was ahead of his time, as he advocated a graduated income tax, free schooling, pensions, the abolition of the House of Lords and for women's right to vote. He has been described as ‘flexible’ in his political philosophy, this being a very generalised socialism based on a secularised Christianity rather than Marxism. 'Socialists,' Hardie proclaimed, 'made war on a system not a class'.

Imagine the strength of feeling for the socialist movement within Kier Starmer’s family to choose such a powerful, evocative name for your son.  I imagine the conversations in that household, the discussions.  We are all fascinated by our own names from a very young age, especially once attending school.  I imagine the 5 year old Kier Starmer asking, why am I called Kier, there are no other Kiers in school. This is a powerful name and one that historically resonates in the UK.  


The Corona pandemic dominates the world at the moment.  Here in the UK we hear and read little about Kier Starmer, we still do not know him.  It is not a time for getting to know many people apart from those you are self-isolated with in your household. I anticipate he will prove to be an innovative, modern, effective Labour leader who draws from the best of previous leaders, especially his namesake, Kier Hardie.


The words of Kier Hardie: "So long as men are content to believe that Providence has sent into the world one class of men saddled and bridled, and another class booted and spurred to ride them, so long will they be ridden; but the moment the masses come to feel and act as if they were men, that moment the inequality ceases."

"I reject what seems to be the crude notion of a class war, because class consciousness leads nowhere... The watchword of socialism is not class consciousness but community consciousness."

Donovan Reynolds is CEO of Kingstonmouth.com.  He is a trained Diplomat, Human Rights activist and a Communication Consultant. Ann Smith is a a British Educator and Social Activist. Kingstommouth.com is a charitable organization that has been in existence for over eight years with an interest in Politics, Human Rights and International Development Issues. Readers wishing to comment on this article may do so at the space provided on this blog. Alternatively, they can contact us at kingstonmouth 63@ gmail.com or on our twitter or Facebook Page.