Class in the political rumble is both sword and shield: a weapon of attack if you are a Labour insurgent aiming to seize power from “out-of-touch” Tories (a Starmer talking point) and a defensive rally if you are criticised for solecisms — “I speak like people do where I grew up” (his deputy Angela Rayner).
It is a theme that stalks Tom Baldwin’s assiduous new biography of Keir Starmer. On one reading of his background and rise, the leader of the Opposition is everything that riles those who see London’s professional and political circles as a bubble of privilege and self-advancement.
