Sunak is running on “security” – that he will protect people in a dangerous world,with Russian tanks in Europe,Chinese spies under the bed,and the Labour Party an unknown entity. Starmer is running on “change” – that it’s time to move on after 14 years of Conservative Party rule and “chaos”.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gets drenched as he announces the election on Wednesday.Bloomberg
They’re different. But not different in the way that the last election – Boris Johnson v Jeremy Corbyn – represented a clash of different planets. Both Sunak and Starmer say they want secure borders,sound fiscal policies,nuclear deterrence and more nurses. Also,they’re both internationalists.
And they both – on their own paths – muscled their way through Britain’s class system to reach their heights of political power.
Sunak v Starmer origin stories
Sunak is a former hedge fund impresario,a number cruncher,clothes horse,teetotaller and one of the richest men in England. (He married really,really well.) He digs California.
Starmer is a former prosecutor. He did human rights work,too. He likes a pint,but is also a bit stiff. He kind of reads his speeches. He won a knighthood,so he’s “Sir Keir” in British newspapers.
Keir Starmer is a former prosecutor and won a knighthood for his work.Getty
Sunak was born in Southampton. His mother and father were immigrants,East African-born Hindus of Punjabi descent. His father,Yashvir Sunak,was a doctor in the National Health Service. His mother,Usha Sunak,was a pharmacist. Young Rishi Sunak worked in a curry shop and in his mother’s drugstore,doing the accounts.
He attended very expensive,very posh private schools. He was a “dayboy” at Westminster College,went on to the University of Oxford and then was a Fulbright scholar at Stanford University,where he earned an MBA and met his wife. In college,he interned at the Conservative Party headquarters.
Starmer was born in London and grew up in Surrey. His father was a toolmaker in a factory,his mother a nurse. He attended state schools but then studied law at the University of Leeds – and Oxford,too. He was the first in his family to graduate from college. His family was deep into Labour,and in 1986,young Starmer served as the editor of a Trotskyite magazine calledSocialist Alternatives. He doesn’t talk about that a lot.
Sunak v Starmer as family men
Sunak is 44. Starmer is 61. They look that way. Starmer doesn’t seem that old – not like the US presidential candidates,certainly. And although Sunak is often portrayed in British political cartoons as a geeky teen,on camera he comes across as a cool dad type.
Outside the House of Commons,Starmer will wear jeans and boots,kind of “urban Labour” menswear. Sunak is best known for his bespoke suits,with extra-snug tailoring and very high hems – it’s all about the ankles and socks.
Sunak has two young daughters. He took them to Disneyland in California last year. They all live together at 10 Downing Street,but the Sunaks also own a five-bedroom house and an apartment in London,a penthouse in Santa Monica,California,and an estate in Yorkshire.
Raised hems:Sunak gives off a cool-dad vibe.Getty
Starmer has two teenagers. About the coming election,he told Sky News,“The only thing that keeps me up at night,the only thing that worries me,is our children,because they’re 13 and 15 – that’s a difficult age.” The family home is in Kentish Town,in the northern part of London.
Sunak is a Hindu. Starmer describes himself as an atheist “who believes in faith”.
Sunak v Starmer on football
Both men are big fans of football. Starmer supports Arsenal. Sunak goes for Southampton.
Arsenal is in second place in the Premier League,while Southampton was sent down to a lower league last year. It’s probably not worth looking for a metaphor in that.
Sunak v Starmer job titles
Starmer is a former top criminal prosecutor. He put people in jail. He also worked on human rights and police reform before getting into politics. He was granted a knighthood in 2014 for his services to “law and criminal justice”.
Sunak worked as an analyst for Goldman Sachs,then for a couple of California-based hedge funds,then for a hedge fund owned by his billionaire father-in-law – N.R. Narayana Murthy,one of the richest men in India and a founder of Infosys. Sunak got into electoral politics in 2015. He said he wanted to make “a positive difference” in people’s lives.
Starmer was elected head of the Labour Party in 2020. He remade the party,pushed its hard left to the margins and moved to block Corbyn’s candidacy for a parliamentary seat in Islington. He has sought to purge the party of leftist antisemites,whom he called “a stain” on the movement. He is in the centre,but he is no Tony Blair. Not yet,anyway.
Keir Starmer and Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner (left) on the first day of campaigning for the July election.Getty
Sunak has also struggled to tame his party,which does have its oddballs. He served as chancellor of the exchequer,or finance minister,under prime minister Boris Johnson – and his resignation in July 2022 helped bring down his boss. To become prime minister,Sunak was not elected by voters,or the Conservative Party rank and file (in fact,he lost,to Liz Truss),but by his fellow Tory lawmakers,who were desperate for a new leader after Truss flamed out.
Sunak is not beloved in his circles,but he has beaten back the rebels in his ranks.
Starmer is not beloved in Labour,either,but he essentially asked his party a question:Do you want to win an election or remain in the wilderness of opposition forever? The party chose Starmer.
Sunak v Starmer on what they stand for
Starmer seeks to represent the working people,the liberal-leaning middle classes,the urban elite and the committed left wing in Labour. It’s a sprawling coalition.
Sunak voted for Brexit. Starmer was against it. But that may not be a big divider. These days,the Conservatives barely mention the big push to leave the European Union (it’s a flop at best),and the Labour Party still doesn’t know whether to embrace it,ignore it or suggest that,well,maybe,someday,Britain might rejoin the EU after all.
Under Starmer,the Labour Party will push economic growth,better health care,clean green energy and soft-target net zero,crime fighting and more money for education.
Under Sunak,the Conservative Party will push stopping illegal immigration,growing the economy,cutting waiting times for medical appointments,and stability.
Britain faces a serious debt crunch. Tax cuts sound good but will be tough. Both Starmer and Sunak will be asked to answer hard questions about how they intend to pay for anything new,given Britain’s black hole on finances.
Both are relentlessly focused,sober,analytical detail men. It will be hard to trip them up in debates. But it might not matter. Starmer’s Labour Party is ahead by 20 points in the polls.
The Washington Post
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