
Sir Keir Starmer vowed to wipe out the 'stain' of anti-Semitism from the Labour Party today as he was unveiled as its new leader.

The 57-year-old made a fulsome apology to British Jews as he was confirmed as Jeremy Corbyn's replacement, vowing to rip out the 'poison' that has dogged the party under his predecessor.

Sir Keir, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, overwhelmingly saw off the challenge of the Corbynite continuity candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey, who was backed by Mr Corbyn's closest allies.

The St Pancras and Holborn MP won with 56.2 per cent after a single round of voting, giving him a powerful mandate for his leadership. Ms Long-Bailey took 27.6 per cent and outsider Lisa Nandy 16.2 per cent.

Sir Keir, who was the first person in his family to go to university and is married Victoria, also a lawyer, used his online victory speech to lash out at the anti-Jewish racism under Corbyn that led to the departure of many members and even some Jewish MPs.

'We have to face the future with honesty,' the father-of-two said.

'Anti-Semitism has been a stain on our party. I have seen the grief that it's brought to so many Jewish communities. On behalf of the Labour Party, I am sorry.

'I will tear out this poison by its roots and judge success by the return of Jewish members and those who felt that they could no longer support us.'

Mr Starmer's most immediate concern will be Labour's response to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Shortly before he was unveiled this morning, Boris Johnson has invited opposition party leaders to a Number 10 coronavirus briefing, urging rivals to come together in the national interest.

This afternoon a spokesman for the new Labour leader said: 'This afternoon, Keir Starmer spoke with the Prime Minister about the current national emergency.

'Keir offered to work constructively with the Government on how best to respond to the coronavirus outbreak, accepted the Prime Minister's offer to meet next week and agreed arrangements for Privy Council briefings and discussions.'

In a speech broadcast on social media he paid tribute to Mr Corbyn 'who led our party through some really difficult times, who energised our movement and who's a friend as well as a colleague'.

Mr Starmer leaving his London home today after being elected Labour Party leader in place of Jeremy Corbyn

But he immediately went on to address what is perhaps the defining issue of the out-going leader's five years in charge.

Sir Keir used his speech to pledge to 'engage constructively with the Government, not opposition for opposition's sake'.

He added: 'Not scoring party political points or making impossible demands. But with the courage to support where that's the right thing to do.

Who is Sir Keir Starmer? Sir Kier Starmer was raised by socialist parents who named him after Keir Hardie, the Labour leader's founder and a colossus of the socialist movement. In Who's Who he refers to his parents Rodney and Josephine Starmer as 'Rod and Jo'. As his son described today, Rod was a toolmaker and Jo formerly a nurse before suffering from a physical disability. He was the first member of his family to go to university, studying law at Leeds and St Edmund Hall Oxford, before joining the Middle Temple chambers of Sir John Mortimer, the late barrister and novelist. He went on to specialise in defending in human rights cases and became a Queen's Counsel (QC) in 2002. Just six years later, and despite being a defence specialist, he was made director of public prosecutions, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service. The shadow Brexit secretary is viewed as more of a centrist than his main rival, Ms Long-Bailey. But his campaign has seen him play up his left-wing credentials, highlighting his work as a lawyer supporting trade unions and poll tax protesters, and he has said the party should not 'oversteer' to the right in the wake of the election defeat. He has been the MP for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015 and was instrumental in getting the party to back a second Brexit referendum - although he acknowledged that the scale of the election defeat meant the issue was now settled. However, he has refused to rule out campaigning for Britain to return to the European Union in the long term. His policy pledges include raising income tax for the top 5 per cent of earners, campaigning for EU freedom of movement to continue and to push for 'common ownership' of public services such as mail, rail and energy. The 57-year-old, who lost his mother-in-law during the leadership race, has also vowed to introduce a prevention of military intervention act if he becomes PM to ensure Britain could only go to war if the Commons agreed. Advertisement

'But we will test the arguments that are put forward. We will shine a torch on critical issues and where we see mistakes or faltering government or things not happening as quickly as they should we'll challenge that and call that out.'

The scale of the more moderate shadow Brexit secretary's victory in a vote by the party's 600,000 members shows a clear desire for change after the party's horrific mauling in last year's general election.

Mr Corbyn, 70, announced that he would quit as Labour leader in December, after the party suffered its worst election defeat since 1935 - following years of factional in-fighting, accusations of institutional anti-Semitism and bitter divisions over Brexit.

He handed Boris Johnson an 80-seat majority, including a swathe of formerly 'red wall' seats in the north of England and the Midlands which had never had a Tory MP before.

The announcement this morning was due to be made in a special conference in front of a mass audience. But due to coronavirus it was replaced with a simple email announcement with a pre-recorded victory message from the winner.

Sir Keir said: 'It's the honour and privilege of my life to be elected as Leader of the Labour Party.

'I will lead this great party into a new era, with confidence and hope, so that when the time comes, we can serve our country again – in government.'

Angela Rayner was voted deputy leader, after also being the long-term favourite to take the post.

Sir Keir had led the race from the start, winning the backing of 89 members of the parliamentary party in the first round of the contest, before securing the support of more than a dozen affiliated organisations in the second stage.

Ballot papers were sent out in late February to party members, members of affiliated trades unions and groups and 14,700 'registered supporters' who paid £25 to take part on a one-off basis.

Voting closed on Thursday and bookies had him as the 100/1 winner when they closed.

The leader of the Jewish Labour movement, which last year came close to dis-affiliating from Labour after almost 100 years, demanded that the change in leader 'mark a turning point for Labour in its relationship with the Jewish community'.

JLM national chairman Mike Katz said: 'Nobody should be under any illusion: restoring trust will take effort, time and political will.

'We need to see strong, moral leadership on the vital task of ridding the Labour Party of anti-Semitism from the outset and changing a toxic culture that tolerates racism.

'The past five years have without doubt been one of the darkest times for Jewish Labour members and supporters.

'We will dare to be optimistic that the party can once again be safe place for Jews, but we are equally clear that this is just the beginning of that process.'

Boris Johnson reaches out to new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer in call for unity Boris Johnson has invited opposition party leaders to a Number 10 coronavirus briefing, urging rivals to come together in the national interest. The Prime Minister said it was the duty of politicians of all stripes to work across the aisle and thrash out a plan to defeat this 'invisible killer'. In a letter to his traditional foes, he wrote: 'As party leaders we have a duty to work together during this time of national emergency. 'Therefore, I would like to invite all leaders of opposition parties in Parliament to a briefing with myself, the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Adviser next week. 'I want to listen to your views and update you on the measures we have taken so far, such as rapidly expanding testing and providing economic support to businesses and individuals across the country.' Mr Johnson's cross-party appeal came as Sir Keir Starmer won Labour's leadership election and replaced Jeremy Corbyn, drawing a line under the left-winger's four-year stint in the top job. It prompted speculation that the PM - whose relationship with Mr Corbyn has been frosty - deliberately delayed including other parties in the Downing Street briefings until a fresh leader was elected. The decision to bring opposition parties into the fold signals the seriousness with which the government is taking the deadly virus. The extent of the crisis was further drummed into the public consciousness yesterday when it was revealed the Queen would be making a rare address to the nation to boost morale. Her Majesty is expected to say: 'We are in this together – and we will all get through it together, too'. It is only the fifth time the 93-year-old monarch has made a broadcast outside of Christmas. She recorded the message at Windsor Castle, where she is living in isolation with her 98-year-old husband Philip, as the UK announced 684 more Covid-19 fatalities, hiking the death toll to 3,605 - surpassing that reported by China - and more than 38,000 cases. Advertisement

Defeated leadership candidate Ms Long-Bailey wrote on Facebook: 'I want to pay tribute to Keir and to Lisa and their respective teams, who each led fantastic campaigns.

'Keir Starmer will be a brilliant prime minister and I can't wait to see him in Number 10.

'I will do all I can to make that a reality and to ensure the Labour Party gets into government with a transformative agenda at the next election.

'We live in extraordinary and uncertain times, and it is now up to all of us to support Keir as best we can.'

When Jeremy Corbyn signalled the start of the Labour leadership contest with his resignation in December, the challenges facing his successor seemed clear enough.

The party had gone down to its worst general election defeat since 1935 after years of faction fighting, accusations of institutional anti-Semitism and bitter divisions over Brexit.

Seats which had been Labour for generations turned blue as the party's hitherto impregnable 'red wall', running through the North, the Midlands and Wales, crumbled in the face of the Tories' advance.

Then the task had been somehow to emerge from the wreckage and rebuild a credible position that would at least given them some sort of fighting chance of wresting power away from the Boris Johnson and the Conservatives at the next election.

Since then, of course, all that has changed with the emergence of the coronavirus from Wuhan in China, causing havoc around the planet, turning upside down all conventional expectations of what might lie ahead.

In this frightening new world the Labour leadership contest, which was already struggling to ignite interest among a weary public, worn down by endless wrangling over Brexit, has been in danger of looking like an irrelevant sideshow.

So the first challenge for the new leader may well be to establish a clear voice on the one overwhelming issue of the day.

At a time of national emergency, he or she will have to decide how far they need to stand with the Government, while at the same time ensuring ministers are properly held to account.

Striking the right tone and balance will be crucial in establishing their credentials with voters as a potential prime minister-in-waiting.

But that does not mean the other issues facing the party will have gone away.

First and foremost will be the need to reconnect with voters in their traditional heartlands who turned to the Conservatives at the election - not least because of Europe.

While Labour activists were overwhelmingly pro-Remain, they found themselves out of step with many working class voters who rallied to Boris Johnson's call to 'get Brexit done'.

At the same time there was profound suspicion of Mr Corbyn's left wing policy agenda and past links with Irish republicans and organisations like Hamas.

The new leader will have to establish a credible economic policy framework in a world unrecognisable from the one in which the last election was fought.

While Mr Corbyn was criticised for his high-spending programme of mass renationalisation it is a Tory government which has now mounted an unprecedented state intervention to stave off economic collapse.

Named after Labour's first leader and rumoured to be the inspiration for Bridget Jones's lover Mark Darcy: Labour's new leader Sir Keir Starmer fought for Remain to the last and hopes to draw a line under Corbyn era

Sir Keir with his wife Victoria at the 2017 general election

He's a former barrister lawyer who has only been a Labour MP for five years and who is followed by rumours that he was the inspiration for Bridget Jones' fictional lawyer lover.

Sir Keir Stamer, who has replaced Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader, is in many ways the polar opposite of his outgoing predecessor, despite their shared political allegiance.

The former human rights lawyer, 57, was a vocal supporter of the Remain campaign before during and after Brexit finally happened on December 31, in contrast to Mr Corbyn's tepid support for staying in the EU - after decades of euroscepticism.

He is also from a working-class background, in contrast to Mr Corbyn's middle-class upbringing.

And the father of two has only been married once, in 2007 to his current wife Victoria, a lawyer. Mr Corbyn has been married three times.

Sir Keir was the first person in his family to go to university, reading law and becoming a leading human rights barrister becoming, against type, the Director of Public Prosecutions (which gave him his knighthood).

He has only been an MP for five years, compared to Mr Corbyn's 37, winning in Holborn and St Pancras at the 2015 election that resulted in Mr Corbyn's election to replace Ed Miliband.

Never the less the overwhelming favourite won the party ballot today that saw him take on what is the hardest job outside Government.

He won after a single round of voting, giving him a powerful mandate for his leadership. Ms Long-Bailey took 27.6 per cent and outsider Lisa Nandy 16.2 per cent.

The scale of the more moderate shadow Brexit secretary's victory in a vote by the party's 600,000 members shows a clear desire for change after the party's horrific mauling in last year's general election.

Mr Corbyn, 70, announced that he would quit as Labour leader in December, after the party suffered its worst election defeat since 1935 - following years of factional in-fighting, accusations of institutional anti-Semitism and bitter divisions over Brexit.

He handed Boris Johnson an 80-seat majority, including a swathe of formerly 'red wall' seats in the north of England and the Midlands which had never had a Tory MP before.

Former Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Keir (right, in 2009) has been claimed as the basis for Helen Field's character Mark Darcy , the legally-minded love interest of Bridget Jones who was played by Colin Firth in the film adaptations of her books (left) . Asked about the rumour by the New Statesman magazine recently, Sir Keir replied: 'There's a lot worse that can be said of you. I'll live with that.'

In a message posted online Sir Keir said: 'It's the honour and privilege of my life to be elected as Leader of the Labour Party.

'I will lead this great party into a new era, with confidence and hope, so that when the time comes, we can serve our country again – in government.'

Sir Kier Starmer was born in London in 1962 and raised by socialist parents who named him after Keir Hardie, the Labour leader's founder and a colossus of the socialist movement.

In Who's Who he refers to his parents Rodney and Josephine Starmer as 'Rod and Jo'.

Rod was a toolmaker and Jo formerly a nurse before suffering from a physical disability.

He was the first member of his family to go to university, studying law at Leeds and St Edmund Hall Oxford, before joining the Middle Temple chambers of Sir John Mortimer, the late barrister and novelist.

It was this career that led to claims he was the basis for Helen Field's character Mark Darcy, the legally-minded love interest of Bridget Jones who was played by Colin Firth in the film adaptations of her books.

Asked about the rumour by the New Statesman magazine recently, Sir Keir replied: 'There's a lot worse that can be said of you. I'll live with that.'

He went on to specialise in defending in human rights cases and became a Queen's Counsel (QC) in 2002.

Just six years later, and despite being a defence specialist, he was made DPP, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service.

After his term in office he turned his attentions to a more direct role in politics, standing in Hollborn and St Pancras after Labour former minister Frank Dobson stepepd down.

The shadow Brexit secretary is viewed as more of a centrist than his main rival, Ms Long-Bailey.

But his campaign has seen him play up his left-wing credentials, highlighting his work as a lawyer supporting trade unions and poll tax protesters, and he has said the party should not 'oversteer' to the right in the wake of the election defeat.

He has been the MP for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015 and was instrumental in getting the party to back a second Brexit referendum - although he acknowledged that the scale of the election defeat meant the issue was now settled.

However, he has refused to rule out campaigning for Britain to return to the European Union in the long term.

His policy pledges include raising income tax for the top 5 per cent of earners, campaigning for EU freedom of movement to continue and to push for 'common ownership' of public services such as mail, rail and energy.

The 57-year-old, who lost his mother-in-law during the leadership race, has also vowed to introduce a prevention of military intervention act if he becomes PM to ensure Britain could only go to war if the Commons agreed.

Sir Keir, 57, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, overwhelmingly saw off the challenge of the Corbynite continuity candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey

Mr Corbyn, 70, announced that he would quit as Labour leader in December, after the party suffered its worst election defeat since 1935

After his victory today, Sir Keir also immediately turned his attention to coronavirus, pledging to act as a responsible opposition leader.

'It's a huge responsibility and whether we voted for this Government or not, we all rely on it to get this right,' he said.

'That's why in the national interest the Labour Party will play its full part.

'Under my leadership we will engage constructively with the Government, not opposition for opposition's sake.

'Not scoring party political points or making impossible demands. But with the courage to support where that's the right thing to do.

'But we will test the arguments that are put forward. We will shine a torch on critical issues and where we see mistakes or faltering government or things not happening as quickly as they should we'll challenge that and call that out.'

Sir Keir led the race from the start, winning the backing of 89 members of the parliamentary party in the first round of the contest, before securing the support of more than a dozen affiliated organisations in the second stage.

Ballot papers were sent out in late February to party members, members of affiliated trades unions and groups and 14,700 'registered supporters' who paid £25 to take part on a one-off basis.

Voting closed on Thursday and bookies had him as the 100/1 winner when they closed.

Defeated leadership candidate Ms Long-Bailey wrote on Facebook: 'I want to pay tribute to Keir and to Lisa and their respective teams, who each led fantastic campaigns.

'Keir Starmer will be a brilliant prime minister and I can't wait to see him in Number 10.

'I will do all I can to make that a reality and to ensure the Labour Party gets into government with a transformative agenda at the next election.

'We live in extraordinary and uncertain times, and it is now up to all of us to support Keir as best we can.'

Sir Keir defeated Rebecca Long-Bailey (left) and Lisa Nandy (right) in the leadership vote when the result was announced today