Keir Starmer reveals boozy lunch with ex-Doughty Street chamber mate Amal and George Clooney

Labour leader appeared on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories last night

Former Doughty Street barrister Sir Keir Starmer has opened up about a boozy lunch he once had with ex-chamber mate and “brilliant lawyer” Amal and actor George Clooney.

Last night the barrister turned Labour leader shed light on his personal life in a tell-all television interview with Piers Morgan.

Starmer revealed how he and his wife, solicitor Victoria Alexander, dined “two, three years ago” with the famous couple. “It was a brilliant thing to do,” he said. “We had a lovely afternoon.”

When Morgan pressed him further, asking whether Mr Clooney had ever given him advice on life in the public gaze, Starmer responded:

“Oh, George gives quite a lot of advice, including to me. He’s got strong views. He’s very strong on American politics, obviously. And we discussed all of that — that’s why what started off as a lunch ended up as an afternoon, which ended up as an evening. There were quite a lot of empty bottles by the end of the evening.”

There were other interesting titbits shared in the 45-minute interview, including his daily moisturising regime, the revelation his middle name is Rodney, and a claim about “always brimming with manly passion” — that was a joke over the rumour he was the inspiration behind Mark Darcy in Bridget Jones’ Diary. Helen Fielding, the author behind the much-loved novel turned film, actually put that rumour to rest when she revealed towards the end of last year that she’s never even met him.

Elsewhere, a teary-eyed Starmer divulged details of his upbringing and touched on the passing of both of his parents, Rod Starmer, a toolmaker, and Josephine Baker, a nurse.

He spoke of the relationship he had with his “difficult” father, who only once told him he was “proud” upon passing the 11-plus exam to gain entry to Reigate Grammar School, and how his mother, who suffered from a rare form of inflammatory arthritis known as Still’s disease, died just weeks before he was elected as the Labour MP for Holborn & St Pancras.

Morgan also questioned Starmer on his time as an undergraduate law student at Leeds University. His student digs were apparently a “rat-infested squat” above a “massage parlour” which Starmer revealed was once burgled unbeknownst to him whilst he worked upstairs on his computer.

He gave a cheeky answer when Morgan repeatedly asked whether he had taken drugs while at university. “Your friend, Mark Stephens, [Howard Kennedy media law heavyweight] says you are a party animal, and you’ve been a university guy, we all know what used to go on at universities, have you ever dabbled in anything stronger than alcohol?” Morgan asked.

Starmer replied, “I spent my university days in the library, studying”, before adding, “no, we had a good time, we went to bands, we went to gigs, we worked hard and we played hard… Drugs are not my thing. They weren’t my thing at university.”

There were further revelations in the bombshell interview, including how he met his wife. “I was doing a case in court and it all depended on whether the documents were accurate,” he said. “I [asked the team] who actually drew up these documents, they said a woman called Victoria, so I said let’s get her on the line.” When he spoke to her, he asked her about the accuracy of the documents, and before he hung up he heard her say, “who the *bleep* does he think he is!” recalled Starmer. “And quite right too.” The couple now have two children together.