The UK general election has delivered a new Prime Minister with a genuine interest in football
Prime minister Keir Starmer on Downing Street(Image credit: Getty Images)
Newly-elected Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is one of just a handful of politicians to hold the UK’s most powerful position who is a genuine, bona fide football fan.
The Labour MP for Holborn and St Pancras will now take over from Rishi Sunak at Number 10 (Downing Street, not attacking midfield) after the party’s landslide victory in the UK general election.
Previous club loyalties have included Sunak for Southampton, David Cameron for Aston Villa (his uncle, William Dugdale, having previously been club chairman), Gordon Brown for Raith Rovers, and Tony Blair for Newcastle United.
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Who does Keir Starmer support?
Sir Keir told FourFourTwo last year that the first game he ever attended was in fact a Tottenham Hotspur game, thanks to his under-11s team having been given free tickets by then-Spurs defender Phil Beal – but that he was already a devoted Arsenal fan by that time.
The new PM is a regular face at the Emirates Stadium, telling us: “There’s a group of seven or eight of us who meet in the pub, have a drink and some pre-match banter.
“One of them I went to school with, one was a centre-forward in a team I played for, then there’s either my son or my daughter and a few pals from work – it’s a lovely mix of people.
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Keir Starmer is a lifelong Arsenal fan (Image credit: Getty Images)
“We walk to the ground together. I’m in the upper tier at the Emirates with one of my children, then everyone meets back at the pub afterwards for the debrief.”
We asked him in 2023 if he would rather become Prime Minister or see Arsenal win the league – and then being he can’t have both – Starmer replied: “Well, my first answer’s both! But if I’m pushed to pick only one, I’ll have to say Labour to win the next general election.”
Steven Chicken has been working as a football writer since 2009, taking in stints with Football365 and the Huddersfield Examiner. Steven still covers Huddersfield Town home and away for his own publication, WeAreTerriers.com. Steven is a two-time nominee for Regional Journalist of the Year at the prestigious British Sports Journalism Awards, making the shortlist in 2020 and 2023.
