The handover of power and residential address is swift, with Rishi Sunak having officially vacated Number 10 Downing Street. Starmer and his family will have use of the third-floor flat at Number 10, the traditional residence of the Prime Minister, while incoming Chancellor Rachel Reeves will have Number 11.
Unlike his predecessor, who has an international collection of homes with an estimated value of £15 million, Starmer’s property portfolio is somewhat more modest.
The north London family home
Starmer moved to London after university, and he has lived in various north London neighbourhoods including Archway, Highgate and Stoke Newington.
He bought a home in Kentish Town along with his wife Victoria in 2004 for a reported £650,000. Thanks to London’s rocketing property prices over the past two decades, the four bedroom terraced house is now has an estimated value of well over £1 million. Fellow Labour MP Ed Miliband lives just down the road.
The new Prime Minister previously co-owned a five-bedroom home in Stoke Newington with his girlfriend at the time. The then-couple bought it for a reported £262,500 in 1991 and Starmer reportedly sold his £140,000 share in 2001.
Donkey delights in Surrey
Starmer grew up in Kent and Surrey, including a pepple-dash semi in Hurst Green. He bought a field next to the house for his parents in the Nineties, and his mother ran her passion project – a sanctuary for neglected donkies – from the land.
The Mail on Sunday attempted to smear Starmer for the land holding in 2020, claiming the land could be valued at up to £10 million. Starmer’s camp quickly dismissed the story and highlighted that the field had allowed his disabled mother, who lived with Stills Disease, to care for the animals.
Starmer’s mother died in 2015 and Starmer put the field on the market for a reported £400,000 in 2022.
Interior ‘change begins now’?
Starmer swept to victory with a watchword of ‘Change’, but will he be making any cosmetic changes to Number 10?
The Sunaks revamped to the residence while they lived there, commissioning bespoke damask curtains, velvet sofas and a new rug for the drawing room.
The opulant gilded cornicing may not be to Starmer’s taste, but he may be grateful for his predecessors investment. Upholsterer John Challis, who undertook the work, described the former decor of George Osborne’s residency as ‘very tired’.
There are also rumours that a new resident may be joining the family at Number 10. The new Prime Minister is very protective of his teenage children’s privacy, but he did mention on the campaign trail that they had been escalating their own lobbying for a pet dog. Rumours that Starmer promised his daughter a puppy were swirling on BBC News this morning.
Larry the cat, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, may not be so thrilled at this development.
