Keir Starmer’s entire senior team forgot to wish him a happy birthday at their morning meeting in Downing Street, his spokesperson has admitted.
However, all was not lost when the prime minister turned 62 on Monday – as he revealed that his daughter was picking up a new Siberian kitten to bring to the family’s new home.
He spent the rest of the morning at a primary school in Orpington, south London, to promote the government’s scrapping of single-word Ofsted ratings, where he was pressed on issues including the economy, the Conservative leadership contest and Labour cronyism allegations – but not on how he was planning to celebrate his special day.
Asked by reporters how Starmer would be marking the event, his official spokesperson admitted: “Regrettably, I think we all forgot to wish him a happy birthday at the 08.30 this morning, which I feel a bit embarrassed about.”
A No 10 insider later admitted that it was “really bad” that the team had forgotten Starmer’s birthday, although he is understood to have received birthday wishes from other members of staff including on his visit with the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson.
He will celebrate with his family later this evening and is expected to receive gifts from his wife, Victoria, and two children. In a radio interview on BBC Radio 5 Live, the prime minister admitted that he usually tried to keep his birthday low profile.
In the same interview, with the journalist Matt Chorley, Starmer revealed that his children had persuaded him and his wife to get a new kitten to join their older cat JoJo in the Downing Street flat. They had originally lobbied the prime minister to get a German shepherd dog.
“There’s been a long summer of negotiations, back and forth, different options,” he said. “We are now getting a kitten instead of a dog … This is a Siberian kitten, which is being picked up today by my daughter.”
Asked how Larry, the veteran Downing Street cat, might feel about the new arrival, Starmer admitted: “The problem we’ve got, which is the same for JoJo the cat, is that the only door out of our new flat is bomb-proof.
“And therefore, getting a cat flap is proving a little bit difficult. But our daughter has persuaded us that the problem isn’t any bigger for two cats than one. And therefore, we’re now getting this kitten.”
Sarah Elliott, from the charity Cats Protection, said: “Getting a new cat or kitten is very exciting, and we’re pleased to hear there will be another feline voice in Downing Street.
“The prime minister and his family will need to take plenty of time to slowly introduce the new addition to JoJo and Larry. The kitten will be joining a busy household, so they will also need to make sure they have lots of positive experiences around new people.
“Young kittens can be exhausting for older statesmen like Larry, so he’ll also need a safe, quiet area to retreat to when the energy of a younger member of the team gets a bit too much.”
Unlike some of his team, Starmer has a reputation for remembering the important dates of his own family and friends. In his biography of the Labour leader, the journalist Tom Baldwin writes: “He maintains a vast network of friends and is assiduous in remembering anniversaries or meeting up for the big birthdays – 40, 50 and now 60 – as well as funerals.”
The book also reveals how Starmer enjoys dancing at his friends’ birthday parties. The most infamous prime ministerial birthday in recent times was Boris Johnson’s pandemic lockdown celebration in June 2020 in Downing Street, despite the strict rules forbidding social gatherings indoors at the time.
At the event in the cabinet room, his wife, Carrie Johnson, is said to have presented the former prime minister with a cake while leading staff in a chorus of happy birthday. The event resulted in Johnson, his wife and his then chancellor, Rishi Sunak, all receiving fixed-penalty notices.
By the time Sunak had become prime minister, his own birthday in No 10 was a less controversial affair, with aides saying he had marked the occasion by having his favourite carrot cake and a private dinner with his wife.
Tony Blair marked his 50th birthday in office with a celebration at Trimdon Labour Club in his Sedgefield constituency, at which he agreed to play guitar with a local band.
