New UK Labour leader visited TT in 2011

NEW UK Labour Party Leader and Opposition Leader Sir Keir Starmer once spoke on human rights at Hugh Wooding Law School, St Augustine. Starmer succeeded Jeremy Corbin on April 4 after Labour’s loss in the 2019 general election, won by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

In September 2011, he addressed a packed lecture hall at Hugh Wooding Law School, on the topic of the role of a prosecuting attorney. At the time he was Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), heading the British Crown Prosecution Service (CPS.) He was DPP from 2008-2013, a role for which he was knighted by the Queen.

His message to the law students that a prosecutor has a broader role as an official of the law court, rather than just being an advocate for one side of a court case – to advise the police, ensure evidence is lawful, ensure a fair trial occurs, and uphold the rights of victims and witnesses.

Starmer is not the first person linked to the UK Labour Party leadership to visit TT, as his predecessor Gordon Brown, as British Prime Minister in November 2019, attended the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting (CHOGM), hosted by the late Patrick Manning, then prime minister of TT.