AAP FACTCHECK – A former NSW election candidate claims UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer “has never had a real job” and only ever worked for trade unions or the British Labour party before becoming an MP.
This is false. Before entering frontline politics, Mr Starmer was a human rights lawyer and public prosecutor for about 25 years.
The claim was made in a UK election discussion panel hosted by Joel Jammal, a conservative activist who has published false and misleading information previously.
The person making the claim was panellist Jeff Grimshaw, a 2023 NSW state election candidate for the Liberal Democrats, since renamed the Libertarians Party.
Mr Grimshaw claimed Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his UK Labour counterpart were similar because neither had ever had “a real job”.
“People like Starmer and Albo, from a very young age, have been so closeted. They’ve never had a real job,” Mr Grimshaw says in the video (2 hours 5 minutes 6 seconds).
“They’ve always worked, you know, in either union positions or staffing positions within the Labor party.
“Same with Starmer.”
The discussion was live-streamed on YouTube on July 5 as the count for the UK General Election count was under way.
A clip of the discussion was later posted to Facebook.
Mr Starmer has served as the member of parliament (MP) for the London constituency of Holborn and St Pancras since May 2015.
Before becoming an MP, he was a barrister from 1987 until being appointed Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in 2008, during which role he oversaw prosecutions in numerous high-profile crimes.
In February 2010, Mr Starmer announced the prosecution of three Labour MPs and one Conservative MP accused of fraudulently claiming parliamentary expenses, all four of whom were found guilty.
The DPP heads the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), an independent government-funded body that decides which criminal cases in England and Wales should be prosecuted.
He left the role on November 1, 2013.
The Verdict
False – The claim is inaccurate.
AAP FactCheck is an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network. To keep up with our latest fact checks, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
All information, text and images included on the AAP Websites is for personal use only and may not be re-written, copied, re-sold or re-distributed, framed, linked, shared onto social media or otherwise used whether for compensation of any kind or not, unless you have the prior written permission of AAP. For more information, please refer to our standard terms and conditions.
