Keir Starmer was ‘beaten up’ as a teen after protecting gay friend

Labour’s Keir Starmer was once “beaten up” after defending a gay friend, according to a new biography.

The incident took place in a Cornwall nightclub in the 80s, when the 61-year-old was a teenager, according to reports.

The politician recounted the story to Tom Baldwin, author of Keir Starmer: The Biography, details of which have been published by The Independent.

Starmer was working at a holiday centre for a disability charity at the time of the attack.

“Graham didn’t do much to conceal that he was gay,” Starmer remembers of his friend, with whom he has since lost contact, in the book.

“Some of the local kids decided the way to prove they weren’t gay too was by punching and kicking him.”

“Britain has become less cruel and less full of hate” Keir Starmer

Starmer says he and his other friend then “got involved,” resulting in the trio getting beaten up.

“Graham’s dad, who ran the Diamond Inn down the road, did that ‘You’re no son of mine’ thing and threw him out,” Starmer went on.

“When I’m told how ‘things were better in the old days’, people forget about the ways Britain has become less cruel and less full of hate. We can all take some pride in that,” he added.

Elsewhere, Starmer recounts how his niece and her wife were subjected to a violent anti-gay attack at the hands of three men in 2022.

“These cowards punched Jess many times, fracturing her cheekbone, for no reason except she’s a lesbian,” Starmer told Baldwin.

Starmer – who has disappointed some LGBTQs with his chequered history of LGBTQ-related comments and proposed policies – recently won praise for his stern response to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s joke about trans women, made in Parliament in the presence of Esther Ghey, the mother of murdered trans teen Brianna.

Starmer will go up against Sunak in the next General Election, which will likely take place in late 2024.

Keir Starmer: The Biography will be published by Harper Collins on 29 February 2024.