Sir Keir Starmer said that his weekly tradition of Friday night dinners are “really nice and really special”.

Speaking on the Table Manners podcast with Jessie and Lennie Ware, he said that he “won’t do a Friday night event,” choosing instead to spend the evening at home with his family for Shabbat.

Although he isn’t Jewish, Starmer's wife Victoria Alexander is, and her dad often joins them for Shabbat. 

Starmer said Shabbat is “a rock in the week,” and it is important to his children to know that “barring exceptional weeks, we will all be there on a Friday night”.

He admitted, though, that a lot of the evening is spent arguing about whether or not to get a takeaway.

His wife’s father Jewish, and has Polish roots, while her mother converted to Judaism. Starmer has previously said that he is keen to raise children who “recognise the faith of part of their grandfather’s family”.

During Covid, the family did prayers each Friday over Zoom. The Labour leader said: “Carving out tradition… is incredibly important”. 

Starmer has engaged closely with the broader Jewish community. Last year, he wished the community a “joyous” Chanukah, and said that we offered his “warmest wishes to all Jewish communities across the UK”.

The Labour leader also discussed his childhood, his love of cooking, and eating fish and chips – but only on the road – on the the podcast.