Keir Starmer nearly quit after 2021 Hartlepool by-election defeat, says new biography
The IndependentSign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Sir Keir Starmer considered resigning after the crushing defeat in the Hartlepool by-election in 2021, according to a new biography of the Labour leader. Nearly two and a half years later, Sir Keir is now tipped to become the next prime minister with a poll lead far ahead of Rishi Sunak’s Tories. Keir Starmer: The Biography, by Tom Baldwin, suggests that the Holborn and St Pancras MP told close aides in the immediate wake of the by-election that he was going to quit, before being persuaded otherwise. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer in Munich for a major security conference “I told him it was far too soon for that kind of thing, but it was a rocky few hours.” Sir Keir, who is quoted in the book, reflected on the defeat.