Though not much of a radical, if Keir Starmer wins this election he will break with recent British political tradition: he is a candidate for change who isn’t young. In fact by modern standards he’s quite old. Tony Blair and David Cameron were just 43 when they won.
At the time, Cameron was the youngest prime minister since 1812, before he was undertaken by Rishi Sunak, a mere 42 years old. Starmer will be 61 on polling day. The last time a prime minister took office in their sixties was James Callaghan in 1976; only Harold Macmillan and Winston Churchill were older in the 20th century.
Starmer was elected to parliament late, too: he was 52 before he made it to the Commons, older than any other future prime minister when they first became an MP, according to one commentator. If he makes it to the end of two full terms, Starmer will be over 70. Older than Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May, Callaghan and many others at the end of their time in office.
Only the unique Churchill exited at an older age (80). All this is already provoking whispers of trouble ahead. As the author Ian Leslie has written , stamina is a crucial part of the modern prime minister’s job, and age catches up with us all.
Physical decline notwithstanding, the question of succession will certainly come up sooner than he would like. But I see Starmer rather differently. Like Thatcher, ignored as a potential talent by her snobbish, sexist colleagues, or Andrew Bonar Law, who traded iron in Glasgow until he w.