Keir Starmer was ‘beaten up’ as teenager trying to defend gay friend, biography reveals

A new biography by Tom Baldwin describes how Starmer has seen his friends and family attacked for being gay

Keir Starmer in 2006 (Family handout/Harper Collins)

Labour leader Keir Starmer was ‘beaten up’ as a teenager trying to protect his gay friend from a homophobic attack, a new biography reveals.

Describing the incident to author Tom Baldwin for Keir Starmer: The Biography, the Labour leader discussed the violent run-in at a Cornwall night club in the 1980s.

In the summer after he sat his A-levels, Starmer and two friends from school, Mark and Graham, worked at a holiday centre for a disability charity where they went on a night out.

“Graham didn’t do much to conceal that he was gay,” recalls Starmer, “and some of the local kids decided the way to prove they weren’t gay too was by punching and kicking him”.

It was at this point Starmer says he and his other friend “got involved,” resulting in the three of them all getting beaten up.

The Labour leader has since lost touch with his friend, but laments his treatment at the time: “Graham’s dad, who ran the Diamond Inn down the road, did that ‘You’re no son of mine’ thing and threw him out”.

“When I’m told how ‘things were better in the old days’, people forget about the ways Britain has become less cruel and less full of hate,” Starmer says, “We can all take some pride in that”.

Later in the book, Starmer describes seeing another of his loved ones face a homophobic attack. In 2022, he attended the same-sex wedding of his niece. Baldwin describes Starmer’s pride as he reflects on the “brilliant day,” compared to the treatment for his friend decades earlier.

But six weeks later he was reminded that there is still much more to do when his niece and her wife were subject to a violent homophobic attack in their hometown.

Starmer describes the incident as a reminder of “how far we have to go”.“

They were hand in hand like the newlyweds they were, when three men came up to them”, he explains. “These cowards punched Jess many times, fracturing her cheekbone, for no reason except she’s a lesbian.”

Baldwin describes the “cold fury” with which Starmer recounts the incident, and the failure to prosecute those responsible.

In his legal and political career, Starmer has remained an outspoken advocate of LGBT rights. Before entering politics, he worked for the Human Dignity Trust, an organisation that challenges laws which prosecute LGBT people. As an MP and party leader, he has consistently campaigned and voted for pro-LGBT causes.

Starmer’s former legal colleague Jonny Cooper describes how the then-human rights’ lawyer supported him as the first openly gay lawyer at Doughty Street Chambers: “[He] wanted to know what my boyfriend and I had got up to over the weekend. Though it may not sound it, this was remarkable.”

“He was doing more than just demonstrating his kindness – he was demonstrating that his default position is inclusion.’