Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has spoken publicly for the first time about the death of his younger brother Nick, who died of lung cancer on Boxing Day 2024 at the age of 60. In an emotional interview with reality TV star Pete Wicks for the Man Made podcast, the PM revealed he insisted on accompanying his brother to hospital to hear the terminal diagnosis together.
Mr Starmer described his brother as “very vulnerable” due to learning disabilities caused by complications at birth, and said he had already been secretly visiting him in a Leeds hospital for weeks before the diagnosis. “The hospital had really kindly got me up through back chutes and lifts and staircases into intensive care… Nobody knew I’d been there,” he said. “I decided when he got cancer that I would protect him above all else.”
Speaking during Men’s Mental Health Month, the PM said the hardest part of his job was when “something intensely personal happens and you just need a space… particularly with grief”. He added: “There isn’t really the space. It’s quite difficult. Very difficult, intensely difficult.”
Reflecting on his brother’s character, Sir Keir said Nick possessed “an incredible kindness and a willingness to do anything for other people” despite having very little money. He argued that “strength through kindness is something very powerful that I don’t think we talk about enough” when discussing masculinity.
The Prime Minister also referenced a homophobic attack on his niece in 2022, saying he was “furious” about “blokes [beating] a woman up for holding the hand of her wife”. He expressed concern about “toxic division” in the country. On challenges facing young men, he said “the difficult search for a role model” made figures like Andrew Tate attractive, but warned of the “baggage of misogyny and toxic division” that comes with them.
