Starmer’s first few months have been more than a little bumpy on the home front. After it emerged that his wife, Lady Vic, had received thousands of pounds worth of clothes from Labour’s human ATM, Lord Alli, she doubled down – making a bold debut at London fashion week on 16 September. On 24th September she wore a £1,105 designed dress by Edeline Lee at Labour conference in Liverpool – flanked by her husband. Just days earlier, on 14th September, she had been spotted with Starmer at Doncaster racecourse. It looked like high profile days out in designer clobber would be Lady Vic’s vibe in Downing Street…
But where has she been since? Multiple Labour insiders are raising the question – with regular visitors to Downing Street noting her absence. She’s absent from the wires – which were becoming dominated by snaps of Lady Vic. Downing Street snappers haven’t seen her moving around the area. And Number 10’s own social media channels show no trace. As one bemused Labour wag, almost certainly joking, puts it: “she hasn’t left him, has she!”…
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”