How does Kier Starmer do it?!

[sausageupanalley]

I am a similar age to him and am constantly knackered and am just utterly impressed by how the politicians such as Kier Starmer do it?!

Just looking at his last few days, on Weds/Thurs he flew to America and back for possibly one of the most important meetings there has been for the UK in a very long time. Then he flies back and meets Zelensky on Saturday which after what happened in the oval office was also an unbelievably diplomatically sensitive meeting. Then today he's just been on the Laura Kunsberg show and has left and is about to go and meet/host a meeting for European leaders!
He must be having to hold all sorts of other high level diplomatic discussions in between as well as keeping up to date on other briefings and then not to mention getting some sleep, if possible with all that going on and trying to see his family too. I have so much respect for it as it must be unbelievably stressful and tiring. I know your legacy would be part of history but they don't get paid that much, just wondering how on earth they do it!

I think they are jet lagged a lot of the time, not good when making such important decisions. And they can't misstep as this all matters so much.

Whoever compared it to being a working mum, well no, if little Timmy forgets his gym kit, or you blow up at your mother in law it won't start WWW3.

Yes, the javelins/spears bit was clear, but the sheets was confusing!
Poor Zelensky, no wonder he looked flummoxed. Plus he's got people spreading the rumour he's a drug addict 🙄

Imagine having to give sealed orders to nuclear submarine commanders.

Another one here who has always been a bit meh about Starmer but he is really showing what true leadership is at the moment. How he walking that diplomatic line so well, being so clear and yet defusing situations is beyond impressive and makes me very grateful he’s our PM at a time like this. The fact he’s kept Trump onside but has still very publicly and demonstratively shown his support and empthay for Zelensky is inspiring - and by treading this line it cleverly allows others to shout louder about what we are all thinking about the Cheeto in his ivory tower…..

DH???

I agree OP. I don't know if I could stand to be in the same room as Trump and Vance. And yes he must be knackered, fair play to him.
He was sweet with Zalensky yesterday.

But even with everything else taken care of, there is an immense amount to juggle.

Most of us probably can't even imagine the weight of the "mental load" that a PM has to carry. The fact that the trivia of day to day life is taken care of is almost irrelevant when you consider how much else has to fill that space.

Yes he must be exhausted!

That hug between Starmer and Zelenskyy brought tears to my eyes - I think we all wanted to do that after the previous night's bullying session.

I think it helps having people around, like he can just concentrate on the meeting because everything else is managed. I agree though he has been so impressive and I’m glad we have him and not Johnson at the moment (or god forbid Truss). I think the job really takes its toll, when you see pictures of PMs at beginning and end of their term you can see how much the job ages them.

This has been on my mind too. And when does VZ see his family.

I'm a bit younger than KS, my children are very similar ages. Whilst I have every respect for him and the job he's doing, I suspect he's not also finishing work, making a meal, dropping one child at orchestra, whizzing round Morrison's and picking a different child up from cricket nets, before finishing off a couple of reports before bed.

So what? All of those things are totally trivial in comparison to the massive challenges that any PM would have to juggle, let alone a PM in the midst of the biggest international crisis in decades.

Even without mental load/packing your own socks etc, it's pretty reductive to say he's "only" got to govern.
I started out having sympathy with Boris Johnsons government when faced with covid and all the strands of legislation that involved and balancing health v economy. (Sympathy quickly waned when more emerged about ppe deals, parties, Barnard castle etc)
But all PMs have a balancing act of where to prioritise spending etc. What policies will be acceptable to a majority of people, how to raise revenue etc. Keir Starmer inherited the CoL crisis, NHS crisis, many public services cut to the bone....as well as now the potential prospect of war. "Just Governing" sounds 100% tougher than the average mental load and I'm sure not comparable to most standard jobs

Slightly more pressure running a country don't you think?!
And I bet he does do all of those things when he gets a break!

I'd need a lot more than a full size bed to get me through that kind of schedule. 😂

And meanwhile Trump is in Florida and Vance has gone skiing.

100%

I work with politicians a lot - and it's an absolutely brutal life.

Yes they have tea and coffee and Keir won't have to worry about his travel etc but we don't actually provide a cook and housekeeping like many other PMs / Presidents around the world.
I remember May saying that after a Brexit vote she went back to the flat at Downing Street and had beans on toast as she couldn't be bothered to cook.

In normal times it will be at absolutely minimum of a 16 hour day if you include the boxes they get at night, every night for any Minister. It's clearly probably way more than that at moment and I think the PM is probably getting about 4-5 hrs sleep if that.
Keir's wife will be picking up the slack at home, unpaid. It's hard to have a go at your other half for not doing the dishwasher if they are trying to stop the next World war. Can you imagine the AIBU thread ?

He probably does see his kids quite a lot. Downing Street is v small. They probably pop down to say hi even if he's working on something like the current absolute crisis. They probably also meet world leaders occasionally too - just out of the media glare.

I think Keir really does love his kids very much & tries to be a good dad. His face just lights up when he talks about them. In fairness, I also thought that about sunuk, Cameron and both Brown and Blair

No idea what Air Force One has tucked away but FWIW a lot of heads of States don’t really have full sized beds on their aircraft, though depending on the aircraft fit they might have access to a bunk of some sort..

I read an interview with Nancy Pelosi (former speaker of the US House of Representatives) and in it she said that the only way she could do her job, which was so incredibly demanding, was to outsource every other part of her life. So she never did the washing up, never took her own clothes to dry cleaner, never paid a bill or worried about what was for dinner. She was therefore able to focus 100% on her job.

I am not a fan of Therese May's politics, but I thought the same about her. She managed type 1 diabetes whilst having this immense, stressful job.

BTW for those that didn’t get it the “Javelin” reference Trump used wasn’t a euphemism, it was a specific nod to an anti-tank weapons system that that the US provided prior to and after the Russian Invasion.

www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-30-anti-tank-javelin-systems/31604802.html

I don’t think our PMs get as much domestic help as people are assuming here. Didn’t Liz Truss write in her book about the stress of trying to explain to Ocado where they needed to deliver in Downing Street?!

Historically it’s been a wife picking up the domestic duties, or (as in Winston Churchill) a private income covering the costs of outsourcing everything. Objectively the PM’s salary would not cover the costs of outsourcing all that needs to be outsourced not to ever have to focus on anything else.

Appreciate this post is against the grain of the thread.

But this idea of "he must be exhausted" is not quite right IME.
Senior politicians/business leaders etc like KS - of whatever political party - "live to work".

PMs LOVE jetting around the world etc. They will tell you privately that "this is very tiring, I don't want to see another hotel room again for a long time". But this is a bit disingenuous - because actually it's them having a feeling of being "in the thick of it" which keeps them getting up in the morning. They like being the one taking the big decisions, believe me, and find it very stimulating, even if it gives them grey hair.
Not having to do any housework is also helpful but this factor above is also an important one.

I think you're right that they're often the type to thrive on being "in the thick of it". However, I very much doubt that anyone would thrive under the level of pressure that European leaders are currently facing. These are exceptional times.