Disappointment at current contenders sparks online campaign to persuade former DPP to enter race only a week after he became an MP

An online campaign has been launched to try to persuade the former director of public prosecutions Keir Starmer to stand for the leadership of the Labour party, only a week after he became an MP.

Starmer, who was elected to the former health secretary Frank Dobson’s old seat of Holborn and St Pancras, on an increased Labour majority, had been tipped as a potential leader of the party.



Disappointment at the current leadership contenders has prompted a group of Labour activists to urge Starmer to stand. On Thursday night, they set up a Facebook page called Sir Keir Starmer QC KCB for Labour leader, which has already attracted more than 200 members.

Later on Friday, they plan to a launch a Twitter storm under #keirforleader to encourage more senior figures in the party to back a Starmer leadership bid. Starmer himself has refused to comment on the campaign.

Narice Bernard, a 44-year-old businessman from East Lothian who describes himself as a disenchanted Labour supporter, is one of the campaign founders. He said: “I just have a belief that he [Starmer] wants the job but isn’t prepared to say so.”

Bernard and other members of the group have sent a series of tweets and emails to Starmer but have heard nothing back. “Silence speaks volumes,” Bernard said. “He hasn’t said he will stand, but he hasn’t said he won’t. It’s clear that when someone goes into politics at his stage of life they do so for very good reason – they want to make a difference.”

So far, four Labour frontbenchers are running for leadership: Liz Kendall, Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Mary Creagh. Former shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna withdrew from the race on Friday morning.

Bernard said he was frustrated by the calibre of the candidates and said they were all associated with Labour’s election defeat. He said: “I just don’t think that on the back of such an election failure the people instrumental in that failure are the right choice to move us forward.

“We need something so dynamic, so fresh, so strong that we need a born leader. None of the current contenders are natural born leaders, but it is clear that Keir is. I suspect he is from the left of the party, but it’s not about left and right; it’s about leadership.” Bernard said the online support for Starmer has been “overwhelming”.

He said: “It went crazy last night on Facebook after we launched – 180 or so joined in a matter of hours, which I didn’t expect. People are demoralised and have been looking for hope in these candidates and not many have found it.

“What’s obvious about Keir Starmer is that he is fresh and new and experienced. People have a vision of a person of that calibre, without baggage, really being able to take on the Tories. We can’t put up some little fish to take on David Cameron when he is on a massive bounce. We have got to match that bounce and Starmer is the man that can revive that bounce.”

Bernard conceded that the online #milifandom campaign to back the former leader Ed Miliband didn’t come to much despite the media focus. He put its failure down to the “wrong demographic”.

But he remains optimistic about the Starmer campaign. “Hopefully later today we can give him the confidence to run. We are planning a Twitter storm at 6pm. The idea is to force him out of the darkness or at least get some of the big names in the party talking about him.”

Starmer was also backed this week by the former City minister Lord Myners, who funded Gordon Brown’s leadership campaign. Speaking on LBC radio, Myners suggested he was underwhelmed by the current contenders.

He said: “I wouldn’t be surprised to see other names come forward. I would like to see someone really quite radical. I would like to see Keir Starmer, who has only been a member of parliament for a week, but he’s got a real background, he’s done a proper job – he’s been director of public prosecutions, he’s an extremely thoughtful person, he’s an able communicator.”

Myners said a Starmer leadership bid would ignite the campaign. “Could a party consider a leadership candidate somebody who has only just joined the party and only just become an MP?” he asked. “Many people would say no. But goodness me wouldn’t that electrify the campaign?”

Starmer’s name has also been suggested by Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee, who said the former barrister was best placed to defend the Human Rights Act from the government’s plans to scrap it.