Keir Starmer's Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Wednesday closed in a buoyant mood following a series of poll leads over the Tories. The annual rally came at just the right time as Prime Minister Liz Truss' premiership was plunged into crisis after her government's tax-cutting bonanza triggered days of economic turmoil.
The Opposition leader said he has shifted Labour to the political centre offering "common-sense politics" and suggested it was time for a "serious" politician to take power. By his side at the conference was his wife Victoria, who held Keir's hand as he greeted the applauding crowd.
Despite Keir, who served in Jeremy Corbyn's top team, moving into the limelight in 2020, we haven't seen much of his wife of 15 years, who prefers to lead a private life away from the cameras. While she may appear shy, one Labour insider previously described the mum-of-two as 'sassy' and 'uninterested' in Keir's politics.
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Victoria made her first public appearance as the then-new Labour leader's wife when stepping out from their North London home to partake in the 'clap for carers' on their doorstep during the coronavirus lockdown.
Victoria was then seen lighting a candle for Sarah Everard the following March, which was followed by a polling day appearance, attending the European football championships final in July, and most recently has been seen wearing a red shirt dress showing support for her husband before his impassioned speech on stage.
Just like Keir, 60, Victoria is a trained solicitor who now works in the NHS as an occupational health worker.
The pair married in 2007 - the year before Keir became Director of Public Prosecutions - and share two children together.
Their son Toby was born in 2008 while the name of their daughter, believed to be 10, was not made public.
Victoria and Keir met in the early 2000s when working as lawyers, where Victoria had to supply Keir with documents for a case he was working on.
But it seems her first impression of Keir was less than impressed.
According to Starmer's unofficial biographer Nigel Cawthorne, author of Keir Starmer, A Life of Contrasts: "He rang her and, having never spoken to her before, queried whether the brief she had sent him was less than '100 per cent accurate'.
"Unflustered, Victoria firmly held her ground against the caller on the other side of the line, reassuring him that she knew her job and, after putting the phone down, said, 'Who the f*** does he think he is?'"
Keir also recalled the first encounter when speaking on Piers Morgan's Life Stories in 2020, explaining: "I was doing a case in court and it all depended on whether the documents were accurate.
"I [asked the team] who actually drew up these documents, they said a woman called Victoria, so I said let's get her on the line."
He also revealed how he ended up hearing her last comment.
"She said, 'Who the bleep does he think he is?', then put the phone down on me. And quite right too."
Keir reportedly took her for their first date at the Lord Stanley pub, in Camden, where they now live in a £1.75 million townhouse in his Holborn and St Pancras constituency.
The family of Victoria, who grew up in the nearby Gospel Oak area, is originally from Poland with Jewish heritage.
Although Keir is an atheist, he has mentioned that their children have been brought up in the faith.
In an interview on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, Keir revealed: "It is perfectly true that my wife's father is Jewish - they came from Poland - and my wife's mother converted when they got married. There is a long tradition of family and faith there.
"We observe some of the practices, for example, Friday night prayers".
And it appears that if ever Keir got into Downing Street, Victoria would be off doing her own thing, according to a Labour insider.
"She's quite sassy in that she's quite unbothered by what he's doing," a source told the Telegraph last year.
"If he ever gets into Downing Street, she's going to be very much leading her own life. She's not going to be in the spotlight like Cherie Blair, but more of a background Sarah Brown-type figure.
"They have a great dynamic – she spends quite a lot of time taking the mickey out of him because he can be so serious.
"I've never known her to be particularly political – she's always had her own interests."
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