The British prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, practised law before his political career began in 2015. Since he became a barrister in 1987, he has mostly dealt with criminal defence work on human rights matters. In 2008, he became Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), holding these positions until 2013.
Starmer was called to the bar in several Caribbean countries,[5] where he has defended convicts sentenced to the death penalty.[6] He assisted the activists Helen Steel and David Morris in the McLibel case, a legal case in which Steel and Morris were sued by McDonald's for libel over a critical pamphlet. Starmer represented Steel and Morris in the trial and appeal in English courts, also representing them at the European Court of Human Rights.[7]
In 2009, Starmer upheld the decision not to prosecute the police officers who had killed Jean Charles de Menezes in a High Court appeal lodged by the family.[10] He was head of the CPS in 2009 when a decision was made not to prosecute an individual who was part of the Rochdale child sex abuse ring; however, there is no evidence Starmer was personally involved in the decision.[11] After the conviction of Munir Hussain on 14 December 2009 for attacking a burglar, Starmer defended the conviction, saying: "We would only ever bring a prosecution where we thought that the degree of force was unreasonable [...] these are very rare cases".[12]
Starmer was involved[13] in the decision to prosecute Omari Roberts, a trainee builder who killed a teenage burglar in a struggle at the home of Roberts's mother.[14] The prosecution case relied on the evidence of a second teenage burglar and was dropped on 19 April 2010, with Roberts being found not guilty.[15]
In 2009, he called for greater transparency and modernisation in the CPS, including less reliance on paper files.[18] In 2011, he introduced reforms that included the "first test paperless hearing".[19]
In February 2010, Starmer announced the CPS's decision to prosecute three Labour MPs and a Conservative peer for offences relating to false accounting in the aftermath of the parliamentary expenses scandal.[20] They were all found guilty.[21] In the same year, he supported proposals to legally recognise different degrees of murder.[22] In 2010 and 2012, Starmer said that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute two members of the UK security services for their alleged role in torture overseas; he supported further investigation.[23][24][25]
In July 2010, Starmer announced the decision not to prosecute the police officer Simon Harwood in relation to the death of Ian Tomlinson.[26] After a later inquest found that Tomlinson had been unlawfully killed, Starmer announced that Harwood would be prosecuted for manslaughter. The officer was acquitted by a jury in July 2012 but dismissed from the police that September.[27][28][29]
In September 2010, Stephen Lawrence murder suspects Gary Dobson and David Norris were arrested and charged.[30] Dobson had previously been acquitted of the crime; on 23October 2010, Starmer applied to the Court of Appeal for his original acquittal to be quashed.[31] The two were sentenced on 4 January 2012 with minimum terms of 15 years and 2 months for Dobson and 14 years and 3 months for Norris.[32][33]
In December 2010, Starmer revised the policy to require his personal approval for prosecuting women who retract rape allegations, following a case where a woman was convicted of perverting the course of justice, despite judges believing her claims of long-term abuse, intimidation, and rape by her husband were true.[34] He later produced guidelines to prevent women in similar circumstances from being unfairly prosecuted.[35]
In 2011, thirteen serving and former police officers were prosecuted for perverting the course of justice in the 1988 murder of Lynette White. The prosecution were unable to provide documents which "could have helped" the defendants, that were claimed to have been destroyed by the police officer leading the case against them. The prosecution made the decision, approved by Starmer, not to offer any further evidence, and the trial collapsed.[36][37][38] Starmer ordered a review into the circumstances that had led to the decision and ordered a further review in 2012 when the missing documents were found.[39]
Starmer prioritised rapid prosecutions of those involved in the 2011 England riots over long sentences, which he later said had helped to bring "the situation back under control".[40][41] Later that year, after revelations concerning the undercover police infiltration of environmental campaigns, Starmer ordered a review of related convictions and invited protestors convicted of aggravated trespass to appeal their sentences.[42] Starmer declined to authorise a wider enquiry, after a report from the judge Christopher Rose found the issue to be a result of individual fault rather than a systemic problem.[43][44]
In February 2012, Starmer announced that Cameron–Clegg coalition cabinet minister Chris Huhne, and his former wife, Vicky Pryce, would be prosecuted for perverting the course of justice in R v Huhne.[45] Later that year, he wrote advice for prosecutors, saying that they should consider whether violent protestors organised or prepared for violence, compared to protestors who got "caught up in illegal actions".[46] In the summer of 2012, journalist Nick Cohen wrote that Starmer was personally responsible for prosecuting Paul Chambers in the Twitter joke trial. Chambers' conviction was quashed after a third appeal. The CPS denied that Starmer was behind the decision, saying that it was the responsibility of a Crown Court and was out of Starmer's hands.[47] Later that year, Starmer published a plan for the criminal justice system to better handle cases of female genital mutilation; at the time, the offence had never been successfully prosecuted.[48] At the end of 2012, he published guidance on prosecuting cases of grossly offensive posts on social media that called for caution in prosecuting cases, and considering whether users quickly removed posts or showed remorse.[49][50]
In 2013, during the Operation Yewtree police investigation into Jimmy Savile's sexual abuse crimes, Starmer announced changes to how sexual abuse investigations were handled, including a panel to review cases of sexual abuse. Starmer was then made aware that there had been four complaints made against Savile to police in Surrey and Sussex about his past abuse during 2007 and 2008, but a decision had been taken against prosecuting him on the grounds that his victims themselves did not support court action and there was insufficient evidence.[51] Starmer responded by saying "It never came close to crossing my desk and the local CPS lawyer who looked at the case did not even mention the decision to his immediate boss because, to him, it seemed routine."[52][53][54]
Starmer's proposals were intended to make it easier for victims of violent crime to come forward and to facilitate their participation in criminal proceedings.[52][53] In the same year, he published a study showing that false reports of rape were rare, saying that the "devastating impact of false allegations" and the perception that they are more common than the data support mean that police forces might adopt what he called a cautious approach that can "lead to injustice for victims" of rape.[55] He also started an inquiry into the cause of a reduction in police reports of rape and domestic abuse.[56] Also in 2013, Starmer altered guidelines for those improperly claiming benefits enabling them to face ten years in prison under the Fraud Act instead of a maximum of seven years under more specific legislation.[57]
Resignation
Starmer left office in November 2013, and was replaced by Alison Saunders.[58][59] Later that month, the Labour Party announced that Starmer would lead an enquiry into changing the law to give further protection to victims in cases of rape and child abuse.[60] From 2011 to 2014, Starmer received honorary degrees from several universities, and was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) by Charles, Prince of Wales in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to law and criminal justice.[61]
International Court of Justice
Starmer represented Croatia at the genocide hearings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague in 2014, arguing that Serbia wanted to seize a third of Croatian territory during the 1990s war and eradicate the Croatian population.[62]
Awards and honours
In 2002, Starmer took silk, being appointed Queen's Counsel (QC).[63] He received the Bar Council's Sydney Elland Goldsmith Award in 2005 for his outstanding contribution to pro bono work in challenging the death penalty in Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, and the Caribbean.[64]
Starmer is the author and editor of several books about criminal law and human rights, including:
Justice in Error (1993), edited with Clive Walker, London: Blackstone, ISBN1-85431-234-0.
The Three Pillars of Liberty: Political Rights and Freedoms in the United Kingdom (1996), with Francesca Klug and Stuart Weir, London: Routledge, ISBN0-415-09641-3.
Signing Up for Human Rights: The United Kingdom and International Standards (1998), with Conor Foley, London: Amnesty International United Kingdom, ISBN1-873328-30-3.
Miscarriages of Justice: A Review of Justice in Error (1999), edited with Clive Walker, London: Blackstone, ISBN1-85431-687-7.
European Human Rights Law: the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights (1999), London: Legal Action Group, ISBN0-905099-77-X.
Criminal Justice, Police Powers and Human Rights (2001), with Anthony Jennings, Tim Owen, Michelle Strange, and Quincy Whitaker, London: Blackstone, ISBN1-84174-138-8.
Blackstone's Human Rights Digest (2001), with Iain Byrne, London: Blackstone, ISBN1-84174-153-1.
A Report on the Policing of the Ardoyne Parades 12 July 2004 (2004), with Jane Gordon, Belfast: Northern Ireland Policing Board.