Sir Keir Starmer’s ‘wonderful’ brother dies aged 60 after suffering from cancer

Sir Keir Starmer has paid tribute to his “wonderful” brother Nick, who has died aged 60 after suffering from cancer.

The Prime Minister said his younger brother, who had learning difficulties because of complications at birth, had met “all the challenges life threw at him with courage and good humour”.

He died peacefully on Boxing Day, according to the Prime Minister’s spokesman.

The Prime Minister had been due to go on holiday with his family on Friday, but it is understood that he will now remain at home, and hopes to join them later.

Sir Keir said in a statement: “My brother Nick was a wonderful man.

“I would like to thank all those who treated and took care of Nick. Their skill and compassion is very much appreciated.”

Sir Keir spoke candidly about his brother in a recent biography written by journalist and former Labour Party adviser Tom Baldwin.

While growing up in Surrey, the brothers shared a bunk bed in a room with an airing cupboard, and “just enough space for a couple of small desks where we’d do our homework”.

The biography recorded how each child of the Starmer family was given a dog for their 10th birthday, and Nick and his twin sister Katy received Jack Russell terriers called Greg and Ben.

The book also described how their mother, Jo, had taught Nick to read, but Sir Keir remembered how the school described his brother as “remedial”.

Sir Keir, the middle child of four siblings, said: “They had no expectation of him or anything and I’m not sure he even sat exams, so he had nothing to show for coming out of education.

“We were a family of six, so it didn’t feel lonely and I shared a room with him, but Nick didn’t have many friends and got called ‘thick’ or ‘stupid’ by other kids.”

He added: “Even now I try to avoid using words like that to describe anyone.”

Nick worked on scrap cars and scaffolding, earning enough money to rent a home near where he had grown up, according to the book.

It said Sir Keir was best man at Nick’s wedding, and the now Prime Minister recalled borrowing a car so his brother was not “driving his bride from the church in his beaten-up minivan, which had all his clothes in the back”.

The marriage ended and Nick lived for some time in Yorkshire.

The Prime Minister also spoke about Nick in his speech at this year’s Labour Party conference in Liverpool.

As he described his early encounters with art and culture, and the need to remove social barriers, Sir Keir told delegates: “My brother, who had difficulties learning, he didn’t get those opportunities.

“Every time I achieved something in my life, my dad used to say, ‘Your brother has achieved just as much as you, Keir’.

“And he was right. I still believe that.”

Mr Baldwin, writing for The Times on Friday, recalled the moment in 2023 that he learned from Sir Keir that his brother was dying of lung cancer.

He wrote: “This has been a huge part of his life over the past couple of years, during which he made regular trips to Leeds where his brother was in hospital.

“Even during the election campaign and since he entered Downing Street, Starmer has continued to visit without a camera crew in sight.

“He got to know the staff treating his brother so well that he could recite all their names and they would let him into the hospital through a back door so that there would be no publicity.”

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch was among those in the world of politics to offer their condolences.

She wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “This is such awful news. Particularly devastating at Christmas time.

“My sincere condolences to Keir Starmer and all his family.”

Irish premier Simon Harris wrote: “My sincere sympathy to Keir Starmer and his family on such sad news.

“They are in my thoughts at this difficult time.”