Starmer says his mum was an ‘incredible example to me’ in Mother’s Day message
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer paid tribute to his mother Josephine Starmer on Mother’s Day, calling her “an incredible example for me”.
Ms Starmer, an NHS nurse who suffered from the rare autoimmune disease Still’s disease, passed away in 2015, just weeks before her son was elected MP for Holborn and St Pancras.
According to a biography on the Labor Party website, Sir Keir was “hugely impressed by his mother’s courage and determination to carry on with her life despite her illness”.
The site also said, “Keir spent much of his childhood watching his mother go to the hospital, and his father would always be there with him.”
Writing in X on Sunday, Sir Keir reiterated his admiration: “My mother was an incredible example to me. She always put others first, even through many years of illness. Thinking of you today, Mum. Happy Mother’s Day.”
Recounting his mother’s lifelong struggle in 2024, Sir Keir said: “My mother was very, very ill her whole life. I know what acute care is like because I’ve been there with my mother in high care units.”
In a touching gesture of love, Sir Keir, then a barrister, bought a field behind their home for his family in 1996.
This was “because they loved donkeys” and wanted to create a sanctuary for the animals.
He told the BBC Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg last year’s show: “My mother was very sick and couldn’t move anymore. Towards the end of her life, her leg was amputated and she could barely communicate. She was very, very sick. She loved her donkeys, and I wanted her to be able to see her donkeys.”
Still’s disease is a rare, systemic inflammatory disease that causes chronic joint pain, characterized by daily high fever and arthritis.
