SerpApi.Org
Sir Keir Starmer was not exactly renowned for his tough-guy persona during his two-year tenure in No 10.
But the former prime minister has cast himself as Vin Diesel in a bizarre video posted to his official TikTok account after his departure to make way for Andy Burnham.
In the clip, Sir Keir’s face was edited on to Dominic Toretto, the character played by Diesel in Fast and Furious 7.
The 10 Downing Street black door was edited on to Brian O’Conner, portrayed by the late Paul Walker, who died before the film was released.
In a spoof of the film’s final scene, O’Conner – representing No 10 – said: “Hey, thought you could leave without saying goodbye?”
Diesel’s character, a stand-in for Sir Keir, responded: “I used to say I live my life a quarter-mile at a time – and I think that’s why we were brothers, because you did, too.”
The video then gave way to a montage of the former Labour leader’s time in office.
Towards the end of the clip, No 10 and Sir Keir – represented by Toretto and O’Conner’s cars – could be seen going their separate ways after a fork in the road.
Highlights of Sir Keir’s tenure featured in the video include his maiden speech as prime minister, the first Budget he drew up with Rachel Reeves, and visits to British troops.
Lighter moments included him leading primary school pupils in the “six-seven”, a viral TikTok dance that has been banned by some teachers.
During a reading session with pupils last November, a girl sitting next to Sir Keir excitedly told him that the class was reading page 67.
He then led the group in the six-seven, saying the phrase in a questioning tone while making an up-and-down weighing gesture with his hands.
Other segments of the video showed Sir Keir going on foreign visits and joining NHS staff in hospitals across the country.
The video – captioned “it’s been a privilege to serve” – will probably have baffled much of Westminster because of Sir Keir’s significantly more restrained style of communication while he was in government.
By Wednesday morning it had already received more than 650,000 likes and 330,000 shares on TikTok, suggesting there may be something behind the conventional wisdom that most prime ministers are always better liked by the public once they have left Downing Street.
