How does someone like Keir Starmer receive a knighthood?

[pusspuss9]

I can't help wondering how Keir Starmer ever got to be made a sir? I always thought sirs were people who had done something special?

You didn't even try, though. Assuming starting a Mumsnet thread would give you information not available via a Google search is ridiculous.

But you didn't actually want the information, did you? You just wanted a load of people to agree with you.

“How does something like cheese get made?”

<number of posters explain the cheese making process>

”Along with thousands of others, I don’t like cheese, and I own that, so put that in your pipe and smoke it!”

@pusspuss9 Before you go-do you now understand why Starmer got his knighthood?

Well, it's true that there have been countries which have enacted laws to suppress free speech. Hungary and Russia spring to mind. Donald Trump has called people traitors and tried to block people's pensions for criticising him. See the pattern?

There are no plans for blasphemy laws in the UK. The case relating to this was a public order offence and the judge made it fully clear that burning a Qu'ran is legal. Maybe stay off GBeebies?

Or

”does anyone know when cheese became poisonous?” It’s all spin.

Hansard, 3 December 2025.

I don’t like Keir Starmer either, but unlike you, I understand that he received his knighthood in recognition of his work as DPP, long before and completely unrelated to his role as a politician.

It was David Cameron who gave him the knighthood.

Sir Keir Starmer was awarded a knighthood (Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath) in the 2014 New Year Honours for "services to law and criminal justice". The honour recognized his five-year tenure as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and head of the Crown Prosecution Service (2008–2013).

Key Details Regarding the Knighthood
Context: It is standard for the DPP to be knighted after completing their term.
Awarded By: Recommended by then-Prime Minister David Cameron and awarded by Queen Elizabeth II.

We're on page 6 of comments now....

OP, do you finally understand that his knighthood is solely a result of his high-ranking role as DPP BEFORE he became PM?

i.e., nothing about his role or shortcomings as PM has anything to do with his knighthood. So arguments about him being a bit shite at PMQs really isn't related in any sense.

I'm no Labour fan currently, but I am in the legal profession and his DPP record is actually pretty good, and he is well respected in my industry. Those skills don't automatically translate to an amazingly charismatic PM or communicator though. I will say, I am happy he has shown a bit of backbone re: Iran war though.

Nope

lies about what? Jacob Rees-Mogg got one. He lied to the Queen.

It's such an adult way of talking about people you have. Are you 8?

I doubt it will make any difference to that poster, but I automatically discount anybody who thinks they can make others think less of a politician by calling him or her a stupid name. It's not a left right thing for me. It annoyed me to see non-Tories referring to George Osborne as Gideon too. Gideon was the first name his parents chose for him. He decided, aged about 13, that he hated it and would prefer to be called George after his grandfather. It wasn't a calculated PR stunt by an aspiring politician to make himself sound less posh.

Yes, me too. Very tedious. And people always behave as if they are the first person who has ever said it too….

To be fair, I have a variety of names I use for Trump

And this sort of is why there’s the idea people should have an IQ test before being allowed to vote.

I think that giving people nicknames can humanise and normalise them. I do understand the temptation, though-I still think of Farage as Farridge….

Because she chooses not to. Alright?

I tried very hard not to call Boris Johnson just Boris, as it was all part of his 'I'm just a lovable buffoon' image.

I did have a different title when I started this thread, but an MN popup suggested I use the current one instead, so I did.

You don't have to use MN's suggestion if it doesn't reflect what you are trying to convey.

I know, but it more or less I covered what I wanted to say and I wasn't expecting so much interest.
I wasn't expecting his mum to come on here under so many pseudonyms 😂

It more or less covered your OP.

But it doesn't seem like your OP was really what you wanted to say, which was more like, "I don't like KS, so it irks me that he has a knighthood, regardless of why that is"

Because if your title/OP reflected what you wanted out of the thread, you'd've thanked the first person who explained he got it because of his DPP work, and the thread would have been less than 10 posts long.

Signed

Not KS's Mum, several decades too young for that.

Pusspuss9 did actually go on to out line what she meant, and there was a discussion about it. So no need for an aggressive response. Let's keep things civil 🙂

Be a bit difficult as she died quite a long time ago from a rare condition. She never got to see him become an MP.