Diggers in the ITN archive have found footage of a fresh-faced Keir Starmer calling for a radical revamp of the legal profession. Starmer was a lawyer for many years before turning to politics.
In 1994, young barrister Starmer told ITN News: “it’s time that the court system became much more of a place where the ordinary person feels they can go, and I think that means stripping judges and lawyers of their wigs and gowns.”
He called for the average courtroom to be “much more like a GP’s health centre.”
Perhaps this was just a flutter of youthful idealism. Or is it a rare example of something Starmer hasn’t changed his mind on over the years? As Labour leader, he has rowed back on a number of previous pledges and disavowed old beliefs.
Now an enthusiast for the King, he used to believe in getting rid of the Royal Family, saying in 2005: “I got made a Queen’s Counsel, which is odd since I often used to propose the abolition of the monarchy.”
At least his haircut has remained the same.
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