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It will be little consolation to Keir Starmer, who had loftier ambitions for his term of office, that he made a good fist of the tricky brief of prime ministerial style. “He had good hair” is not the legacy he hoped for. But we are where we are.
Starmer’s prime ministerial look was smart, but unpretentious and unflashy. He looks good in a dark suit, which is a bonus in this job. His suits – often bought from Charles Tyrwhitt, where a standard price tag comes in at a typically restrained, Starmer-esque £350 – were well fitted, although menswear pedants pointed out that the sleeves were a little long. (A jacket sleeve should expose a half inch of shirt cuff, leaving the hands visible.) No flashy Rolex, either: Starmer’s watch of choice is a sensible Tissot, which costs about £320.
Despite his modest tastes, Starmer was damaged by revelations in 2024 that he had accepted £16,000 worth of donations towards his wardrobe by the Labour peer Waheed Alli. He also accepted £2,485 worth of spectacles.
He favoured a suit and shirt with no tie – man-of-the-people politico shorthand understood by all – but, when the occasion required, could execute a Windsor knot.
Starmer played it straight, with no Johnsonian creased jackets, no cutesy sartorial foibles (thinking of you, Rishi Sunak’s trouser hems). But perhaps his best sartorial moment on the world stage came at the rain-drenched opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
Starmer, like a true Brit, had packed his own anorak – the official Team GB waterproof – and so was one of the few world leaders spared the indignity of being photographed in a plastic poncho. Off duty, he has often been photographed in a black North Face quilted jacket: standard-issue centrist dad chic.
The hair – a silvered shark-fin somewhere between Tintin and Mark Kermode – was a high point, gaining its own Instagram fan account, @ratingstarmershair, which has been loyal to the end.
