Keir Starmer reportedly wanted to quit after 2021 Hartlepool defeat

The new biography of the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, is being serialised in the Times. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

Keir Starmer considered resigning as Labour party leader after the defeat in the Hartlepool byelection in 2021, according to a new biography.

The loss of the County Durham constituency to the Conservatives was a blow to Starmer as the party had held the seat since it was created in 1974. Nearly two and a half years later, Labour are ahead in the polls and achieved a double success by winning the byelections in Wellingborough and Kingswood on Friday.

A new book on the Labour leader, serialised in the Times, suggests that the Holborn and St Pancras MP told close aides in the immediate aftermath of the Hartlepool defeat that he was going to quit before being persuaded to stay.

Chris Ward, a former close aide, told the biographer Tom Baldwin: “Keir kept saying that he felt he would have to go, that the result showed the party was going backwards and he saw it as a personal rejection. I told him it was far too soon for that kind of thing, but it was a rocky few hours.”

Starmer, who became Labour leader in April 2020, reflected on the defeat in the book. He said: “I’m not fulfilling some lifelong dream here. I could happily work in the bookshop or something.”

According to the book, Starmer’s wife, Vic, was among those who urged him not to act too hastily. Another key figure who helped keep Starmer in his post was Morgan McSweeney, who remains Labour’s highly influential director of campaigns.

Starmer has also responded to Donald Trump’s threat not to protect countries he believes do not pay enough to maintain Nato, saying he would “stand up for our allies” if he becomes prime minister.

The Labour leader told the Sunday Telegraph: “We must build, renew and resource, not divide and threaten. Bad faith politics risks our security.”

Labour has had a fruitful few days after achieving its largest swing in a byelection since 1994 after overturning a majority of more than 18,000 in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.

Gen Kitchen won with 13,844 votes, beating the Conservatives’ Helen Harrison who received 7,408 votes.

In Kingswood, South Gloucestershire, Labour overturned an 11,220 Tory majority to win Chris Skidmore’s former seat. Damien Egan won 11,176 votes, while the Tory candidate, Sam Bromiley, polled 8,675, giving Labour a majority of 2,501.

They were the ninth and 10th byelection defeats for the government since the 2019 general election.