They are the backbone of the nation – middle England, quite literally. Plot them on a map and they run down the country’s spine.
They are neither rich nor poor; neither inner-city nor in the middle of nowhere. They just happen to share a famous name.
Meet the Starmer crowd.
I’m referring to people who, entirely unintentionally, live somewhere with the same name as the Prime Minister. So where better to test the mood of the nation?
The name ‘Starmer’ sounds as if it would lend itself nicely to a village or town, a leafy cross between, say, Stanmore and Cromer.
However, you will not find it on any atlas. Nor is there a Starmerville (not yet, anyway, though given the number of mega new-towns being promised by this government, it may happen soon enough).
However, there are nearly half a dozen thoroughfares called ‘Starmer’ and, over the course of last week, I listened to what they all have to say.
I even met a real Starmer in the flesh along the way. And let’s just say that it has not been a journey which would fill our lugubrious PM with many reasons to be cheerful.
‘He’s a barrister with no personality,’ is the scathing verdict on the new Prime Minister from retired pub landlord and one-time Kidderminster Harriers footballer William Turley, 75, who lives in Starmer Place, Hatton, Warwickshire,
In a week when Labour’s lead over the Tories has crashed from a near-record high of 20 points down to just one – according to the latest poll from More in Common – perhaps Sir Keir might find the root causes right here.
‘He’s a barrister with no personality and that’s exactly how he comes across,’ says retired pub landlord and onetime Kidderminster Harriers footballer William Turley, 75.
‘I don’t think this government will make the slightest difference. They blame the Conservatives for everything but they are beholden to the unions. So they give the train drivers £70,000 a year plus bonuses and then take the winter fuel allowance off people like me who’ve paid in all their lives.’
I am in Starmer Place, in Hatton, Warwickshire, deep in what some like to call Shakespeare country. This is a tidy collection of detached post-war houses and bungalows, originally built for the staff of a nearby mental hospital.
Average property prices here were £285,000 last year, and the area returned a Tory MP, Sir Jeremy Wright, at the election, albeit with a much-reduced majority.
William was not one of those who voted for him. Dismayed by levels of immigration – ‘We’re a small island, the people-traffickers are laughing at us and Starmer’s never going to smash the gangs’ – he cast his vote for Reform.
A few doors up, I meet Sue (she’d rather not give her full name), who works ‘in the private sector’.
She makes the same points: ‘Migration is out of hand. And you have a government giving extra money to train drivers and taking it off pensioners. Starmer is just looking after his core vote.’
At the other end of Starmer Place, I meet horse chiropractor Rachel Charlton who is cross with the government for different reasons.
‘The VAT on [private] school fees is going to hit a lot of people like me who are not rich,’ she says.
Rachel Charlton (right) says her daughter, champion cyclist Olivia Taylor, attends an online school because of her training regime, and adds: ‘The VAT on school fees is going to hit a lot of people like me who are not rich.
Her daughter, Olivia Taylor, is Britain’s junior downhill mountain biking champion and, being an international athlete, attends an online school which is about to crank up the fees.
Rachel points to the open countryside just over the hedge beyond Starmer Place and says that Sir Keir’s proposed building bonanza is another bone of contention.
‘The local landowners have put in for permission to build another 4,500 homes up the road and a lot of people are very unhappy about that,’ she adds. ‘We are country people, and country people tend to vote Conservative.’
I meet Joe, 21, who works restoring old cars, didn’t bother to vote in the General Election but would never vote Starmer anyway because he thinks Labour is anti-car.
The PM is not without his sympathisers, however. ‘I didn’t vote for him – or anyone for that matter as I’m sick of politics,’ says retired medical secretary Jenny Kavanagh. ‘But I’ve been pleasantly surprised by him.
‘He has a lot to do. We don’t need more houses, we need less people. And he must sort out the NHS. Nye Bevan must be turning in his grave.’
Jenny is also the only person who can solve the riddle. Why the name? ‘There used to be a local vicar called Starmer.’
No one seems sure why Starmer Close in Cosby, Leicestershire, got its name, though most residents think it comes from a former factory on this site.
In 1996, it became a cul-de-sac of three and four-bedroom houses which now fetch upwards of £375,000. It is traditional Tory territory round here (a certain Nigel Lawson was once the MP) and the area returned a Conservative MP at the last election, once again with a shrivelled majority.
It was also the scene of a spot of election mischief when a local Farage fan attached a Reform Party banner to the sign at the turning off the main road. So, alongside ‘Starmer Close’ were the words ‘...But Nigel’s Closer’.
‘It didn’t stay up for long,’ says retired chartered surveyor, Jane Taylor. ‘My daughter can’t stand Nigel Farage so she got some scissors, cut it down and chucked it in the bin.’
And Sir Keir’s Labour? ‘What puts me off is the way Labour just blame the Conservatives for everything all the time. They have completely forgotten that we had a pandemic.’
During the General Election campaign, in Cosby, Leicestershire, a mischievous local Farage fan attached a Reform Party banner to the Starmer Close road sign (above beside Robert Hardman) with the words ‘...But Nigel’s Closer’.
‘What puts me off is the way Labour just blame the Conservatives for everything all the time, says retired chartered surveyor Jane Taylor. They have completely forgotten that we had a pandemic.’
Though Jane ‘quite liked’ Rishi Sunak, she is a disenchanted ex-Tory who voted Lib Dem – ‘mainly because of their work on cleaning up our water’.
A few doors down, I meet part-time teacher Laura Meredith, 45, who did vote for Starmer but is seriously disenchanted following the cut to the pensioners’ winter fuel benefit.
‘My father has a condition which means he really feels the cold and he needs that heating,’ she says. ‘His generation worked all their lives and now they’re having that snatched away.’
Recent retirees Dale Otter and Karen Lines, out walking the dog, both voted Tory last time. They say that the winter fuel cut does not trouble them but will certainly hit their parents.
‘It is just so unfair – £10 over threshold and you lose the lot,’ says Dale. His worry is that Labour will try to have a go at the ISAs and other savings which he has stockpiled for his retirement. ‘I’m not looking forward to the Budget,’ he adds.
Finally, at the end of the road, I meet my first ardent Starmerite.
‘I’m a party member and they’re off to a great start,’ says Peter, a retired teacher. ‘I think the Prime Minister’s doing really well – and I’m glad my next door neighbour’s not in for you to talk to as he cannot stand Keir Starmer!’
Although Sir Keir grew up in Surrey (where his father was a tool-maker), I wonder whether the Starmers hail from Northamptonshire since the county has two addresses with that name (both in Tory constituencies, as it happens).
In the village of Weedon Bec, I find Starmers Row, with several clusters of small, terraced, modern houses, many rented, which seem to be popular with young families.
Recent retiree Dale Otter voted Tory last time. He told Robert Hardman that the winter fuel cut does not trouble him and his wife directly, but will certainly hit their parents
Chelsea Thompson, 31, is out of work due to a bad back and says the cost-of-living crisis has hit her hard
Sir Keir has one lukewarm backer in Weedon Bec. I voted Labour,’ says welder Luke Judge, 31, a father of three. ‘We’ve heard a lot of promises and now he’s got to deliver, though he hasn’t had much of a chance yet.’
Louise, a nursery assistant and mother of three, has no time for Sir Keir. ‘I find him quite arrogant to be honest,’ she says. ‘I still miss Boris Johnson. Contrary to what people say, I think he did a good job.’
Round the corner, young mother Chelsea Thompson, 31, is out of work due to a bad back and says the cost-of-living crisis has hit hard.
She tells me she has no interest in politics but is yet another one of those dismayed by the cut in the winter fuel benefit for pensioners.
It is interesting how many people are upset by this policy not because it touches them, but because it affects their loved ones. ‘My grandad only has oil for heating where he lives and he needs that money,’ Chelsea explains.
Sir Keir has one lukewarm backer, however, at the end of one row. ‘I voted Labour,’ says welder Luke Judge, 31, a father of three. ‘We’ve heard a lot of promises and now he’s got to deliver, though he hasn’t had much of a chance yet.’
Of all the ‘Starmers’ on my travels, the prettiest is Starmers Lane in Kislingbury, built in honey-coloured Northamptonshire stone. It takes its name from local farmer William Starmer who used to house his cattle at the end of this narrow road near the church.
Of all the ‘Starmers’ on Robert Hardmans travels, the most picturesque is Starmers Lane in Kislingbury, built in honey-coloured Northamptonshire stone
Formula One motor racing engineer, Liam Deighton, 39, says it’s ‘too early’ to say whether Sir Keir is doing a decent job, though he did vote for him – but without huge enthusiasm
I am delighted to meet his great-granddaughter, Joan Starmer, who was born during the Second World War and still lives in the family house. She recounts fond childhood memories of schooldays and dance classes at the Rectory.
I ask if she is in any way related to Sir Keir. ‘No, I’m not, though I used to think it was funny when I head his name on the television,’ she says. ‘But I’ve always been Conservative.’
Her near neighbour, receptionist Susan Coperley, is certainly no fan: ‘We’re just too soft in this country and Keir Starmer wants to give benefits to people who don’t deserve them while taking money from people who have paid in all their life.’
Further up the lane, I meet Formula One motor racing engineer, Liam Deighton, 39, who is trying to feed his young children when I come knocking. He says it’s ‘too early’ to say whether Sir Keir is doing a decent job, though he did vote for him – without huge enthusiasm it must be said.
Being an analytical sort of chap, he did an in-depth online quiz before casting his vote at the last election. ‘I answered a hundred questions and it said I should be voting Lib Dem. But that’s a wasted vote round here so I voted Labour.’
The harshest verdict on the Prime Minister actually comes from the one ‘Starmer’ address which should be on his side. For Starmer Crescent in Darlington is the only one with a Labour MP, parliamentary newcomer, Lola McEvoy. Yet nearly all the residents who answered the door would like to see the back of Sir Keir already.
‘It makes me ashamed to live in Starmer Crescent. It’s a street full of good, decent, working people and pensioners – all the people he doesn’t care about,’ says retired electrician Simon Smart.
‘He’s a clueless hypocrite who said what people wanted to hear to get elected. How Labour got in in Darlington is beyond me because everyone I know voted Reform, and I was among them. Farage would have made a better Prime Minister.
It makes me ashamed to live in Starmer Crescent, says says Simon Smart of Darlington. It’s a street full of good, decent, working people and pensioners – all the people he doesn’t care about.
‘My biggest issues are immigration, helping the pensioners instead of stealing from them, and the NHS, which I don’t think has ever been in less safe hands.’
Immigration seems to be the number one talking point here. ‘I’d rather have remained with Boris in charge because he at least seemed to have some idea of how to stop mass immigration,’ says Robert Bailey, 49, a self-employed heating engineer and father of two.
‘We’ll never get things back on track until we close the borders and look after our own. As things stand I do worry about the future for my kids when the priority for this government is looking after the welfare of people in other countries instead of focusing on our own.’
Labour’s gift scandal also resonates up here more than down South. ‘It’s been a shocking start to his term as Prime Minister,’ says carpet-fitter Lance Carr, 65.
‘There are so many things that have been disgusting. The sheer two-faced approach to taking freebies is astounding. He [Starmer] doesn’t need them, he’s a wealthy man.
‘It’s been a shocking start to his term as Prime Minister,’ says carpet-fitter Lance Carr, 65, who is horrified by the freebies scandal surrounding Starmer
‘Taking the winter fuel payment from the elderly is unforgivable, that’s not what anyone voted for.’
Rachel Smith, 43, a full-time mother, has much the same to say: ‘I find it unbelievable that he cares more about people coming into this country on boats than he does about pensioners staying warm in the winter.
‘How does he expect to win the trust of the British public when he’s happy to take thousands of pounds in donations for his suits and designer specs?
‘They try to brush that away and say it isn’t important, but it is because it sets him apart from ordinary people who just can’t relate to that kind of lifestyle, especially when he earns so much.’
These locals have a very much higher regard for the couple from whom the street and the adjacent sheltered housing complex, Starmer House, take their names.
Sir Charles Starmer was Liberal MP for Cleveland who died in 1933. His widow, Mary, became a tireless president of 38 local organisations and a vice-president of another 37, remaining very active in Darlington until her death in 1979.
Their memory, however, is now somewhat eclipsed.
‘When I tell people I’m from Starmer Crescent I feel embarrassed; I don’t want to be associated with the name,’ says retired carpenter Malcolm Stubley, 80.
‘I don’t trust Starmer. He got in with only 34 per cent of the country voting for him as well.
‘I want to see something done about crime but his track record isn’t good. The Crown Prosecution Service wouldn’t prosecute Mohamed Al Fayed while he was in charge [Starmer was director of public prosecutions at the time], which doesn’t inspire confidence does it?’
Lawn-care specialist, Mark Saunders, 61, is proud to have voted Labour, and says: ‘You can’t judge a person as a Prime Minister after just a few weeks in office.’
The Prime Minister does have one fan here. Lawn-care specialist, Mark Saunders, 61, is proud to have voted Labour.
‘I’m not one of those people who will change their minds at the first bit of criticism,’ he says. ‘You can’t judge a person as a Prime Minister after just a few weeks in office.’
Out here in Starmerland, I am afraid most people have done precisely that already.