Sir Keir Starmer began his career as a barrister before rising to become the director of public prosecutions. But since his entry into parliament in 2015, he has risen quickly up the ranks to the shadow cabinet’s frontbench. This week he could become Labour’s next leader

Sir Keir Starmer switched from a high-profile legal career to successfully run for parliament in 2015 and quickly became a fixture within Labour’s shadow cabinet. But for a man who can appear at home within the upper reaches of the British establishment, his early life was marked by campaigning, activism and radical politics.

He tells Anushka Asthana how he took on and eventually won the infamous David versus Goliath “McLibel” case for his clients as a young barrister. He rose to the rank of director of public prosecutions, where he initially refused to bring a case against the police officer accused of the manslaughter of newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson.

Now, with Starmer widely predicted to win the Labour leadership election that ends this week, he examines the coronavirus crisis and what political opposition will mean in this context.

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