Starmer: my children take me away from pressure of the job
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said his teenage children kept him ‘very, very grounded’.
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Your support makes all the difference.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said making time for his children allowed him to be a better politician.
He said protecting time to spend with his son and daughter made him more relaxed and a better decision-maker.
Sir Keir and his wife Victoria have a 16-year-old son and a 13 year-old daughter.
He told Virgin Radio: “We’ve had a strategy in place and we’ll try to keep to it, which is to carve out really protected time for the kids, so on a Friday – I’ve been doing this for years – I will not do a work-related thing after six o’clock, pretty well come what may.
“There are a few exceptions, but that’s what we do.”
He said his son and daughter are his “pride and joy” and “I don’t want to lose that time”.
He added: “I don’t believe in the theory that you are a better decision-maker if you don’t allow yourself the space to be a dad and to have time for your kids.
“Actually, it helps me, it takes me away from the pressure, it relaxes me, and I think, actually, not only is it what I want to do as a dad, it is better.”
In politics “some people think, if you fill your diary 24/7 and don’t do anything else, that makes you a much better decision-maker”.
“I don’t agree with that, I think you’ve got to make space, so we do it. “
In an interview with Chris Evans, who used to play football with the Labour leader, Sir Keir suggested his children appeared unimpressed with his political career.
After winning a Spectator politician of the year award, he said his son asked “how did you blag that, then?”.
And when he was speaking at a fundraising dinner his daughter asked: “Why would anyone pay to hear you speak?”
“They keep me very, very grounded,” Sir Keir said.