Sir Keir Starmer has discussed his role in Declan Rice’s £105million transfer to Arsenal. “So when we played at West Ham last year and Declan was still a West Ham player, I took my son with me,” says the Labor leader.
‘Mark Noble, Mr West Ham [now the club’s sporting director], took us to Declan. And so my boy had his program open, ready to sign, and of course we placed the contract [for Arsenal] underneath! Declan signed it and thought he was signing the programme, but actually he was signing for Arsenal!”
It’s the kind of corny anecdote that only a true fan would enjoy – while cynics might argue, it’s also a story that could do well in political focus groups.
But Starmer, who admits to joining in the song that Rice is “cheap at half the price”, is a true Arsenal fan. A season ticket holder who, despite his obviously tough schedule, ‘religiously’ puts the team’s games on his calendar when they are released each June – and then, like other fans, curses when they are switched to television.
“So you think you’ve secured a place in the team’s schedule and then it gets moved to a Sunday or worse, a Friday,” Starmer complains.
‘I enjoy the release’
Politicians claiming to be football fans – presumably to boost their credentials – have a checkered history. Remember when David Cameron couldn’t remember whether he was supporting West Ham United or Aston Villa? Or Boris Johnson who thought Bobby Moore had scored a hat-trick in the 1966 World Cup final and also declared that he “supports all London teams”.
But Starmer has earned his stripes and put in the yards. He is not “Roger Nouveau”, the Johnny-come-lately Arsenal fan with his wicker lunch basket who was satirized in “The Fast Show” in the 1990s. And he is also not an apparently fair-weather supporter like Rishi Sunak, who (very) rarely follows Southampton.
No, if anything the 61-year-old has become more of an Arsenal fan as he’s gotten older and, interestingly, even claims this is his “release” from the day-to-day task of becoming the next Prime Minister.
He is currently with Arsenal in the hunt for their first Premier League title in 20 years – the most excited he has been since ‘The Invincibles’ of 2003-04 – and he plans to continue taking his place at the Emirates, even when he inaugurates 10 Downing Street.
“Because of the intense love I have for football, which I have always had,” Starmer said in an exclusive interview with Telegraph Sport. “But also the busier I am and the more intense the day’s work, the more I enjoy the release. Whether it’s playing football, and I still play, or watching football, it completely takes you away from the daily work.
“I’m going with one of my very best friends, who I know from school, his son and my son. And this sounds very, well, almost emotional to me. But for me and my good friend it is an incredible feeling to walk along the road to the Emirates with our two sons in front of us and I love that.”
That emotion is also palpable within the stadium. “That is true,” says Starmer. “We have been sitting in the same seats in the Emirates since the stadium opened. There are five of us and there are three rows on the side. That group of people – and I don’t know the middle names of half of them – went through an emotional rollercoaster together. The choreography, which you couldn’t script, of everyone reaching forward when the goal is scored, or the huddled feeling of silence when you realize ‘that’s it, we’re not going to win’.”
But it must be harder to deal with, considering how clearly he’s busy – and intends to be?
“That is true,” says Starmer before repeating that if he is elected Prime Minister he still “hopes” to continue as a season ticket holder. “I will definitely get them in the diary as soon as the playlist is announced,” he adds. Starmer has accepted hospitality in the past – not least from the Premier League – but “I’d rather be in my own seat in the stands”.
‘Arteta has built a real team’
Starmer started following Arsenal on the schoolyard where he grew up in Oxted, Surrey, and admits he was one of those kids who gathered around some of the successful clubs at the time. Arsenal – the double winners of 1971 – were one of them, but it was not until he left university in the mid-1980s and moved to North London, on Archway Road, to pursue his career as a lawyer, that Starmer was given the means to to regularly attend their matches. .
“A whole group of us started going to Highbury where you could enter through the turnstile and stand on the North Bank,” he says. “I’ve been going pretty regularly ever since.”
For Starmer, there is also a day every season that is cause for celebration: when the last Premier League team loses its unbeaten record, meaning The Invincibles remain unchallenged as they did not lose a game during the 2003-04 season. “As every Arsenal fan does,” says Starmer. “Absolutely… They (The Invincibles) were just something incredible. Forty-nine undefeated (in total). So every year if whoever at the top loses their first game, I know that record will remain intact for another season.”
That campaign, Starmer says, was the happiest he has followed Arsenal. But he states that the current team, led by Mikel Arteta, is calling that into question.
“This is definitely the best football I’ve seen in a while. This is more intense. It is a more integrated team. Arteta has built a real squad. I’ll give you an example: we meet friends before the game. The usual discussion ‘what will be the score? Who’s going to score?’ And afterwards there is a discussion about ‘who was player of the match?’ There is a sincere debate about this every week. There’s never one player… I think that’s really great. You don’t say every week: ‘It’s Thierry Henry; it’s Aubameyang’ or whoever it is.’
The mention of Henry brings up Starmer’s favorite Arsenal player – although not the one he most wanted to make a ‘seflie’ with. That was Michael Thomas, who scored the last-minute goal that sealed the incredible title win at Anfield against Liverpool in 1989.
“The win at Anfield all those years ago,” says Starmer, unsurprisingly calling it his “favorite Arsenal game ever”. “Michael Thomas – it’s up for grabs now! That must be it,” he adds.
“It had been so long since we had done it; the math was so acute and it had to be two (goals) and it was. And it was there. That was the biggest ever. And I saw Michael Thomas. He came into Parliament about a year and a half ago and is now working on players who are in financial trouble, and it’s just been great. He wanted a ‘selfie’ and I wanted a ‘selfie’.”
And Hendrik? “He’s my favorite player,” says Starmer. “But that is difficult, because Bergkamp is at the top. But Henry, there was just something about him. As soon as he got the ball, there was the feeling that something was going to happen. He almost…. It’s hard to describe, but he went out almost like a hovercraft, almost above the ball. It was just fantastic. So he has to be my favorite of all time. But some of the current ones are getting there – look at Bukayo Saka, look at Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard. These are great players.”
‘Arsenal are not chokers’
Mentioning current players brings us back to the present and Arsenal’s title challenge.
“When am I most disappointed as an Arsenal fan?” Starmer asks. “Oh, every year when we’re going to screw up! Last year was a classic example. We were doing so well and then we had six or seven games to go and on paper they were games we should have won easily – and then there’s that sinking feeling of knowing it’s not going to happen this year.”
So what about the accusation that Arsenal were chokers? “No, I don’t accept that,” Starmer replies. “Arteta has probably put that team in a better place than anyone expected last year. If you said to people two years ago: ‘what are your expectations from Arsenal?’ Then they wouldn’t have expected to win or come second. So they were ahead of expectations. This year expectations were high, so…”
Starmer is tireless in his praise for Arteta – even speaking enthusiastically about the recent goalless draw against Manchester City, a match he also attended.
“He is a great manager because he has put together a team with a purpose; a team with a purpose and a focus,” he says. “I went to see Arsenal play at Man City last week and the intensity and the discipline of what we had to do there was absolutely incredible… Zero-nil is never the best game for fans, but to see a team that played for 90 minutes Everything every player did had to be focused on money. You could see what a team Arteta has built.”
While he warms up to his theme, he eventually splits back into the politician’s word. “And he has built a real team there,” says Starmer. ‘Things like making Odegaard captain. I saw Odegaard when he first played for us, he was on loan from Real Madrid. And I thought ‘there is a very technically gifted player’.
But making him captain has given him a responsibility and a status that we see reflected in the player. Odegaard is now a leader on the field. If everything goes through Odegaard, if he plays well, he lifts the other players up. And at the end of every game, Odegaard will go around the entire field and applaud the fans. That is real leadership.”
Can Arsenal do it? Despite all his enthusiasm, he is not convinced. “It depends on City,” Starmer admits. “It’s the best title race in a while this year, and I’m going home and away every game. City is good though. Look at De Bruyne. Look at Haaland. These are great players.”