Starmer: If I lose my seat I’ll work in a Kentish Town bookshop

Sir Keir Starmer has revealed that he will go and work in a bookshop if he loses his seat at the next general election.

The Labour leader says he has got life “planned” in the unlikely event he gets defeated in his constituency.

His plan for life after politics involves working at a “little bookshop” and making cups of coffee; but his dream might have to wait a little while yet with polls consistently giving Labour a sizable lead over the Tories.

Speaking on the Rosebud podcast, the leader of the opposition – who won his London seat with a majority of almost 28,000 in the 2019 election – revealed what he would do if he lost.

Sir Keir, 61, said: “Oh, I’ve already got that planned. There’s a little bookshop on Kentish Town High Street and I’ve always fancied working there. So if all goes badly you can come and see me in my bookshop and bring your book and I’ll make you a cup of coffee.”

A general election is expected to take place later this year with Rishi Sunak repeatedly being pushed to name a date by opposition parties.

Nadine Dorries, the Boris Johnson loyalist and former Cabinet minister, has said she expects a general election to be called next week and described doing so as “250 (Conservative) MPs thrown to the wolves”.

The Holborn and St Pancras MP also candidly admitted that he can cope without making friends during his time in politics.

He said he wanted “to be liked” but that, actually, his most important friends stem from before he was even a politician.

Sir Keir, a former director of public prosecutions, said: “I think on being liked: I have very, very strong friendships, which have been life enduring.

“And so in that sense, I still want to be liked. I want to be in those deep, deep friendships. The sort of people I can talk to about anything, not particularly political, actually.

“A lot of people I knock around with are not particularly political and I have that safe space away from politics. Politics can be an isolating, brutal place where lots of people don’t only not like you, but they revel in not liking you.”