Attending A Leaving Party for Sir Keir Starmer At 10 Downing Street

I attended a farewell leaving party for the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, on Tuesday the 14th of July, in the gardens of 10 Downing Street.

It was a privilege to firstly be invited (after an on-going collaboration since last October highlighting the government’s policies helping lift children out of poverty) and secondly, to be present to listen to speeches from those Starmer has helped and supported, firstly in his role as an MP for Holborn and St Pancras and prior to his entry into politics, as Director of Public Prosecutions (advising the police, determining criminal charges, and directing the prosecution of offenders in court), and of course as PM, seeking out justice for those whose children were brutally murdered.

These include Martyn’s Law, an act that delivers the Government’s manifesto commitment to strengthen the security of public premises and events after the tragic Manchester Arena bombing, and Raneem’s Law, a government initiative that embeds domestic abuse specialists directly into police emergency 999 control rooms. It ensures that emergency calls are accurately assessed, victims receive real-time support, and frontline officers are given expert guidance. The parents of both Martyn and Raneem were in attendance and hearing from them was utterly heartbreaking.

We also heard that the long-awaited Hillsborough law was passed on this day, which I read later, Andy Burnham noted was truly his legacy.

According to Wikipedia, ‘the Hillsborough Law, known officially as the Public Office (Accountability) Bill is a piece of legislation which would impose a duty on public authorities and officials to act with candour, transparency and frankness and establish offences to prosecute those who mislead the public or engage in misconduct relating to their duties as public officials’. This is in response to the devastating Hillsborough disaster, a fatal crowd crush during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough station, in 96, caused by police inaction and misconduct and a campaign later of covering up information, falsifying records and slandering football fans (paraphrased from Wikipedia).

Starmer’s legacy is of course far reaching, some of which I want to outline below:

The social media ban for under-16s, workers and renters’ rights, upgrading sick pay and parental leave and ending no-fault evictions and fixed term tenancies in England.

He also raised the National Living Wage to £12.71 and settled multiple public sector strikes early in his premiership. He established Great British Energy, launched landmark overhauls of the SEND education system, and scrapped single-headline Ofsted grades in schools.

The NHS waiting list is down by 400,000 with ambulance response times quicker and 200 more GPs in the sector.

There are also 5 million extra NHS appointments, and 4500 more secondary, FE and special school teachers in schools. Knife crime down by 10%. 500,000 more children are eligible for free school meals and 500 more free breakfast clubs open, a subject I interviewed the PM about. And so much more (you can view the videos on further achievements, here).

Sir Keir spoke of continuing his mission to support those in need as long as there is breath in his body and mentioned he would leave No 10 with grace, proud of the achievements he and his government made in the 2 years of leadership.

..It was a joy to finally meet Deborah Meaden who has championed my work since I first interviewed her for this blog in 2018. We both said we felt we already knew one another and couldn’t believe this was the first time we were meeting in person. I really value our dms on Instagram and the support and advice Deborah has given me.

I loved meeting former teacher and content creator Jasmine Basi of Phun Phonics and Magic Maths and her beautiful 5 week old baby!

What a memorable day and memorable premiership.

Thank you to Sir Keir Starmer for all he has achieved, particularly for children and working parents.