Page 5 | How does Kier Starmer do it?!

sausageupanalley · 2025-03-02T09:35:15+00:00

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!

Uberaddict · 02/03/2025 13:34

nongnangning · 02/03/2025 13:26

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 this is sort of true but physically it is still demanding.

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 02/03/2025 13:36

Uberaddict · 02/03/2025 13:20

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

Poor Theresa May... for all that I dislike the woman's politics, imagine having to go back and cook after all that!

We really ought to give them more support with the domestic stuff. It shouldn't have to fall to the spouse.

Uberaddict · 02/03/2025 13:40

Agree @MrsBennetsPoorNerves - I can't stand her politics either but she deserved a decent meal after getting to her flat at gone 10pm. Especially as up thread, someone said she had diabetes

Boris got criticised for having food delivered by a donor but of all the things that BJ should be rightly criticised for, I thought that was low done the list

Fizbosshoes · 02/03/2025 13:43

cheezncrackers · 02/03/2025 13:22

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.

To be fair this is the standard MN response to everyone who finds their job , or work-life balance stressful ....

Stepfordian · 02/03/2025 13:46

I’m just impressed he manages to stay calm, he sticks to whatever has been decided he’ll say beforehand, he doesn’t care if that makes him look dull, he’s genuinely there to try and do a good job rather than people like Boris or Trump who just want power and money.

SlugsWon · 02/03/2025 13:48

Just a massive lol to all the posters suggesting it's because he doesn't have to do his own ironing or plan the children's tea 😁

Let's be serious - making sure everyone in the house has clean socks for tomorrow is a chore and it's tedious and takes a bit of thought, but it's not on par with leading your country through tense diplomatic relations.

I don't iron, and my cleaning standards are pretty low - but somehow that hasn't freed up my own mental energies to match Kier Starmer's output!

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 02/03/2025 13:50

SlugsWon · 02/03/2025 13:48

Just a massive lol to all the posters suggesting it's because he doesn't have to do his own ironing or plan the children's tea 😁

Let's be serious - making sure everyone in the house has clean socks for tomorrow is a chore and it's tedious and takes a bit of thought, but it's not on par with leading your country through tense diplomatic relations.

I don't iron, and my cleaning standards are pretty low - but somehow that hasn't freed up my own mental energies to match Kier Starmer's output!

Exactly!

godmum56 · 02/03/2025 13:51

JimHalpertsWife · 02/03/2025 10:02

I like that he and his wife have been able to maintain anonymity of their children too. It's his job, not his whole world. And previous PMs (not the women, just the men) always seem to use the "family man" image to curry favour with the public which he isn't doing, by choice.

he did used to have a "my wife works for the NHS line" during and just after Covid but he gave it up seemingly.

SnoozingFox · 02/03/2025 13:53

With the travel, he's not parking in a long-stay car park, catching a bus to the terminal, queuing to check in, queuing to ger through security, hanging about in the departure lounge until boarding. He's driven straight onto the tarmac and immediately onto the aircraft.

And as others have said - everything else is taken care of for him, he's not mentally making a Tesco's shopping list or trying to help his DC remember their times tables.

JasmineAllen · 02/03/2025 13:57

StepawayfromtheLindors · 02/03/2025 10:14

Because he doesn’t have to iron his suits, make his own cup of tea, take the garden waste to the tip, fix a broken window, drive in rush hour to take kids to activities, find something he has mislaid, call a plumber, sit listening on hold to his energy company for 25 minutes, change a nappy, go to ikea, drive himself home after a red eye flight from America………….

Exactly

SlugsWon · 02/03/2025 14:04

SnoozingFox · 02/03/2025 13:53

With the travel, he's not parking in a long-stay car park, catching a bus to the terminal, queuing to check in, queuing to ger through security, hanging about in the departure lounge until boarding. He's driven straight onto the tarmac and immediately onto the aircraft.

And as others have said - everything else is taken care of for him, he's not mentally making a Tesco's shopping list or trying to help his DC remember their times tables.

Yes, he doesn't have to do that. But still....

This is not a dig, but even if all that mental load shit was taken off you, would you be able to go at Kier Starmer's pace? I would not! Let's give the man some credit, his achievements are not 'just' because he doesn't have to do homework with the kids. He's good at what he does and has energy and capabilities that I don't. It's okay to recognize that

CurlewKate · 02/03/2025 14:05

I used to work for a woman minister back in the days of all night sittings. She used to insist on most of us going home-only to find herself up shit creek because she didn't have the staff around to cope if something came up in the House....

BurntBroccoli · 02/03/2025 14:29

SlugsWon · 02/03/2025 13:48

Just a massive lol to all the posters suggesting it's because he doesn't have to do his own ironing or plan the children's tea 😁

Let's be serious - making sure everyone in the house has clean socks for tomorrow is a chore and it's tedious and takes a bit of thought, but it's not on par with leading your country through tense diplomatic relations.

I don't iron, and my cleaning standards are pretty low - but somehow that hasn't freed up my own mental energies to match Kier Starmer's output!

I imagine the same posters will be Starmer bashing whatever he does or doesn't do!

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 02/03/2025 14:37

SnoozingFox · 02/03/2025 13:53

With the travel, he's not parking in a long-stay car park, catching a bus to the terminal, queuing to check in, queuing to ger through security, hanging about in the departure lounge until boarding. He's driven straight onto the tarmac and immediately onto the aircraft.

And as others have said - everything else is taken care of for him, he's not mentally making a Tesco's shopping list or trying to help his DC remember their times tables.

But all of those things are piss easy in comparison to the challenges that he is dealing with instead, so what's your point exactly?

I mean, finding a parking space vs testing your kids on their times tables vs trying to avert WW3...I wonder which is more stressful?!

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 02/03/2025 14:38

SlugsWon · 02/03/2025 14:04

Yes, he doesn't have to do that. But still....

This is not a dig, but even if all that mental load shit was taken off you, would you be able to go at Kier Starmer's pace? I would not! Let's give the man some credit, his achievements are not 'just' because he doesn't have to do homework with the kids. He's good at what he does and has energy and capabilities that I don't. It's okay to recognize that

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I agree, and it isn't a party political point either. It is a tough job for whoever is in it.

Beesandhoney123 · 02/03/2025 14:44

I expect somewhere he misses doing everyday stuff. Some of it anyway.
He wanted the job!

Tony Blair looked like shit because he was a war mongering slimeball. Still is, presumably.

StrongandNorthern · 02/03/2025 14:52

StepawayfromtheLindors · 02/03/2025 10:14

Because he doesn’t have to iron his suits, make his own cup of tea, take the garden waste to the tip, fix a broken window, drive in rush hour to take kids to activities, find something he has mislaid, call a plumber, sit listening on hold to his energy company for 25 minutes, change a nappy, go to ikea, drive himself home after a red eye flight from America………….

This.

ParrotParty · 02/03/2025 14:59

CarmelaBrunella · 02/03/2025 12:44

Also, I've no idea what Trump meant by "Biden gave you sheets, I gave you spears" what sheets? I'd be thrown and English is my 1st language!

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Yeah I still don't know what the sheets was referencing to? Paper maybe?

Edit - I've just looked it up and he meant blankets referring to the non lethal aid biden gave apparently

wizzywig · 02/03/2025 15:00

ButterCrackers · 02/03/2025 11:57

No caring duties and everything done for him. He’s not up all night looking after kids, seniors, others needing 24/7 care. He doesn’t have to shop, cook, clear up, drive his family around etc. He has enough cash to not be living day to day. His travel is all organised with comfort - he’s not in a queue for hours, he can sleep on the plane. All the luxuries that give him time and energy.

I'm not a David Cameron fan at all. But one thing I took my hat off to him was that he said he still did overnight sleeps when his son Ivan was in hospital.

fashionqueen0123 · 02/03/2025 15:03

RedToothBrush · 02/03/2025 10:44

I'm guessing it's easier when you almost certainly have a full sized bed on the plane.

Ha true! If it was me I’d have to say I was jet lagged from New York and couldn’t possibly make meetings for a good couple of days 🤣

Theextraordinaryisintheordinary · 02/03/2025 15:05

I’ve just made a quiche and had to have a lie down.

Sinkintotheswamp · 02/03/2025 15:10

Downing Street certainly deserves a cook. Or at least one of the Parliament catering team to whizz something over at silly o'clock. They can hardly whizz into M&S food for something at 10pm.

Vodkamartini3olives · 02/03/2025 15:22

@Gastheif - you seem to have missed the memo. There can be nothing but positive words & complete support for absolutely everything he does/ doesn't do. Any small deviation from this = Russian bot.

SwedishEdith · 02/03/2025 15:24

I've always found this fascinating. Hasn't Ursula von der Leyen got 7 children? You can't outsource pregnancy and childbirth too much. For women in particular, there's the added pressure to look groomed and be subtly made up. I'd be interested to read accounts from the kids of those in high office and what it was like for them.

I agree they clearly thrive on it and must be a type. Must be really hard to step off as well. Looking at Olaf Scholz - wonder what he's thinking knowing he's just lost?

Summerhillsquare · 02/03/2025 15:39

CarmelaBrunella · 02/03/2025 10:26

Starmer makes time for his family. Friday evenings, for example are sacrosanct.
He is a very capable man, he was a Human Rights Barrister for many years, he understands contracts, treaties and international relations. He is also very well read. He appears somewhat dull, which I rather like. It means he's not grandstanding. It's not about his status and ego.
I think sometimes people want a flashy leader or someone who provides soundbites. It's not a way to lead a nation.

Timing wise thank god he is like this. Imagine if we had Johnson still!