Keir Starmer and his advisers maintain close ties with Ireland

Keir Starmer is “the most Irish Englishman” ever seen in British politics, a Times columnist declared last year, as the likely next British prime minister surrounded himself with advisers and aides who knew Ireland well.

Although he has no known Irish ties within his own family, Starmer has developed close ties to Ireland throughout his life and career as a lawyer, prosecutor and leader of Britain's main opposition party.

Starmer spent five years as a human rights adviser to the PSNI in the north and has suggested he would draw on that experience to improve relations with the Irish government if Labour wins the UK general election on July 4.

He loved the North so much that he returned on holiday with his wife. “My wife and I spent our first holiday here after we got married because I wanted to show her Northern Ireland and the people and communities I had met,” he told an audience in Belfast last year. “I was in love with the island and that love stayed with me.”

After the tragic explosion in Creeslough, County Donegal, he told the House of Commons: “Donegal is a special place for me and my family.” He plays five-a-side football for the county's GAA.

And several of Starmer's key advisers and strategists have strong Irish links. Here are a few:

Morgan McSweeney – Campaign Manager

Cork-born Morgan McSweeney is Keir Starmer's closest aide and will play a central role if Labor enters government.

Described by the British media as an “elections guru” and an “Irish workaholic”, McSweeney (47) grew up in the town of Codrum, just outside Macroom in County Cork. He is the son of Carmel and Timmy McSweeney, who played an important role in the Macroom GAA club for years.

Her family has strong Fine Gael connections: her aunt Evelyn McSweeney was a Fine Gael councilor and her first cousin Clare Mungovan was a senior adviser to former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

McSweeney is credited with masterminding Starmer's leadership victory in 2020. He has also become a hate figure for some on the left of the party as he spearheaded a break with the policies of former leader Jeremy Corbyn.

He lives with his family in Lanark, a town south of Glasgow in Scotland. His wife, Imogen Walker, is a Labor candidate in the Scottish constituency of Hamilton and Clyde Valley, so the pair will become a formidable power couple if she wins.

Sue Gray – Chief of Staff

Sue Gray became a household name in Britain when, in her previous role as a senior civil servant, she investigated anti-lockdown parties in Boris Johnson's government.

The skills required for such a role were honed in a location far removed from Westminster, when Gray and her country and western singer husband Bill Conlon bought and ran a pub in Newry, County Down, at the height of the Troubles in the late 1980s.

During this period, Gray once clashed with IRA paramilitaries who tried to hijack his car, steadfastly refusing to get out of his vehicle when ordered to do so, friends told the Belfast Telegraph.

Gray's parents left Ireland for Britain in the 1950s. She was part of a large Catholic family of seven children, born to a mother from Kilmeaden in Waterford and a father from Belcoo in Fermanagh . She grew up in Tottenham, London.

Now in her 60s, Gray had a long career in the British civil service before being recruited by Starmer in 2023 to prepare Labour for government. Some politicians she has dealt with in the past have gone so far as to suggest that the former publican is the “real leader” of the United Kingdom.

According to his civil servant biography, Gray began working for the Cabinet Office in the late 1990s following his stint behind the bar in Newry during a “career break”.

After serving as head of ethics at the Cabinet Office, she was permanent secretary to the Department of Finance at Stormont from 2018 to 2021.

She reportedly refused to hold a farewell ceremony when she left the Belfast office, in order to comply with lockdown rules.

After May 2021, she returned to the Cabinet Office as Second Permanent Secretary with responsibilities within the Department for Upgrading, Housing and Communities.

His son, Liam Conlon, chairs the Irish Labor Party Society and is standing as a Labor Party candidate to become MP for the new constituency of Beckenham and Penge in south-east London.

Pat McFadden – MP and National Campaign Coordinator

Pat McFadden was born in Glasgow to Gaeilgeoir parents from the town of Dunmore near Falcarragh in County Donegal. He returns to Falcarragh every year for his holidays.

He is a veteran of the Tony Blair era in power, having been at the center of power throughout the Labor Party's last term. The New Statesman described McFadden as a “behind-the-scenes operator” for Labor moderates “who amassed extraordinary power” over policy and strategy.

Like Gray, McFadden was one of seven children in an Irish-Catholic family who emigrated to Britain in the 1950s.

If Labor wins the election, McFadden is expected to take ministerial responsibility for the Cabinet Office. He is also expected to be part of the top ministerial team that would lead cabinet decision-making.

Matthew Doyle – Director of Communications

Matthew Doyle is the Labour Party's communications director. He previously worked for former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Doyle's grandparents are from Sligo – his cousins ​​still run a business in Sligo town centre – and he is a former leader of the Irish Labour Party.

Claire Tighe – London Councilor and Mayoral Liaison

Claire Tighe, a Mayo woman, plays a key role in Starmer's office as the official liaison with the party's directly elected mayors, including Sadiq Khan of London and Andy Burnham of Manchester.

A Labour councillor in the west London borough of Ealing, where she was born, Tighe grew up in Ballycastle, on the north Mayo coast, above Ballina. She returned to London to work in politics after university.