Baldwin writes Keir Starmer bio for William Collins

William Collins will publish an authorised biography of Keir Starmer by Tom Baldwin next February that attempts to get behind the "stiff and two-dimensional" portrayal.

Publishing director Arabella Pike has acquired world all-language rights to KEIR STARMER: The Biography from Georgina Capel at Georgina Capel Associates. Publication is set for February 2024.  

HarperCollins said: “KEIR STARMER: The Biography, is an authoritative study of a man who now stands on the brink of becoming Britain’s next prime minister. If he succeeds, Starmer will be the first Labour leader in a generation to win power, even though most voters still say they don’t know much about him. 

It will explore "the paradox of a politician often uncomfortable with politics, someone who is both remarkably ordinary and capable of defying all efforts to define him”. 

The publishers added: “Intended for publication in the foothills of a general election campaign where all aspects of his life will come under the most intense scrutiny, the biography is the result of more than 100 hours of interviews with Starmer himself, his family, his closest friends, his most senior lieutenants, as well as opponents both from the Conservative Party and within his own.” 

HarperCollins said that “the biography offers readers a fuller picture of his working-class family and education, the values that drove him on through a career as a lawyer and public prosecutor, as well as his record since entering politics". 

Baldwin has spent most of life working in politics and began his career on local newspapers before writing for the Sunday Telegraph and the Times. He has been a senior adviser to a Labour Party leader, helped run a mass campaign for a second referendum on Europe and written several books.  

The author, who is based in London, said: “Politicians are never quite like how they seem in public, but none more so than Keir Starmer who has so often been portrayed as stiff and two-dimensional. In trying to get behind that caricature, I have found a great story to tell and, it turns out, a very untypical politician.” 

Pike said: “Based on more than 100 interviews with unprecedented access to Starmer himself and his family, this book is packed full of biographical insight and revelations about the man who is likely to be Britain’s next PM. Readers will meet a very different Keir Starmer in its pages, and I can’t wait to publish.”