Is Keir Starmer Jewish?
The new British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has certainly attracted a lot of comment and accusations in his new role in large part because his wife Victoria Alexander identifies as jewish but is not halakhically jewish (her mother was non-jewish and her father wasn’t a member of Kohanim or a Levite as far as I am aware; thus she isn’t halakhically jewish although she’s certainly jewish in terms of the Israeli right of return). (1)
There have also been a lot of unsourced allegations floating around social media that Starmer is himself of jewish descent, but this is untrue since his parents Rodney Starmer and Josephine Starmer (nee Baker) as best I (or anyone else I can find) can work out were working class White Britons with no known jewish ancestry whatsoever (2) unlike Starmer’s predecessors Jeremy Corbyn who was openly part jewish. (3)
Given that Starmer’s wife Victoria Alexander is part jewish and adheres to Reform Judaism – the only section of Judaism which would have been okay with her parent’s marriage – there remains a possibility that Starmer formally converted to Judaism in order to marry Alexander.
I cannot confirm if Starmer had a jewish wedding ceremony – he didn’t have it at a synagogue, but this isn’t required in Reform Judaism – although it wouldn’t surprise me, but there is also no evidence I can find which indicates that Starmer has ever converted to Judaism even to marry Alexander given he continues to refer to himself as an atheist and doesn’t seem to attend shul with his wife and children regularly. (4)
Although he does famously observe Shabbos albeit seemingly as a cultural tradition to promote jewishness to his children. (5)
It is also worth noting that even the biggest jewish fans of Starmer within the Labour party itself don’t even think he’s actually jewish. (6) That said Starmer is extremely supportive of Israel and jewish interests both domestically and internationally – which I will document in a separate article – but that doesn’t make him jewish.
So no there is no evidence that Keir Starmer is jewish nor (to my knowledge) has converted to Judaism.
References
(1) https://worldisraelnews.com/uk-labour-party-returns-to-power-after-14-years-in-landslide-victory/; the lack of Kohanim/Levite status of Alexander’s father is implied by https://www.israelhayom.com/2024/06/22/every-week-theres-a-challah-and-we-say-kiddush-keir-starmer-opens-up-about-jewish-side-of-family/
(2) For example: https://web.archive.org/web/20200405171214/https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2020/03/keir-starmer-sensible-radical and https://web.archive.org/web/20240705023430/https://metro.co.uk/2024/07/05/inside-keir-starmers-family-life-wife-victoria-toolmaker-dad-2-21166904/
(3) https://www.thejc.com/news/jeremy-corbyn-my-jewish-ancestry-jzw08qry; https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-uk-labour-leader-corbyn-claims-vague-jewish-heritage/
(4) https://worldisraelnews.com/uk-labour-party-returns-to-power-after-14-years-in-landslide-victory/; https://www.thejc.com/news/politics/the-jewish-traditions-that-starmer-could-bring-to-downing-street-y4hi1zqo
(5) https://www.israelhayom.com/2024/06/22/every-week-theres-a-challah-and-we-say-kiddush-keir-starmer-opens-up-about-jewish-side-of-family/; https://worldisraelnews.com/uk-labour-party-returns-to-power-after-14-years-in-landslide-victory/
(6) For example: https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org.uk/article/keir-starmers-journey-to-jewishness/