Sir Keir Starmer has highlighted the care provided by a nurse to his dying brother as a quintessential English value, as he used a St George’s Day reception at Downing Street to celebrate “service, generosity, and respect”.
The Prime Minister, his voice faltering, told guests how Ben Huntley, a nurse, looked after his brother Nick Starmer before his death from cancer on Boxing Day 2024. “Sadly my brother passed on Boxing Day 2024 and it hit me like a bus,” Sir Keir said. “But because of Ben, my brother always felt cared for and respected, because of the way that he was treated by Ben and the whole team, and that was really important to a vulnerable man with stage four cancer going through a really challenging time. Ben, I’ll never forget what you did for me and my family.”
Nick Starmer was 60 when he died. Sir Keir had previously paid tribute to Huntley and the NHS in a video marking the health service’s 77th anniversary in July 2025.
The Prime Minister used the St George’s Day gathering to hold up three individuals as living examples of the values he said defined England. Alongside Huntley, he named Isaac Davidson, a window cleaner from York who helped remove racist graffiti from a Chinese restaurant in August 2025, an act that went viral after the restaurant owner described the vandalism as “blatant discrimination”. The third was George Sutherland, a volunteer at Telford Foodbank — established in April 2013 by the Telford Crisis Network — whom Sir Keir had previously mentioned during his 2025 Labour Party conference speech.
“These are three very different stories, all in different parts of England, but they’re bound together by the same values of service, of generosity, and of respect,” Sir Keir said. “They are examples of people stepping up in their communities, when, frankly, it would be easier in many cases to step back. But they step up. They’re exceptional stories, and yet in this country, they feel familiar because you will find them in every community across England.”
He added: “Time and time again, when times get tough, we pull each other together and we pull each other up.”
Sir Keir used the address to issue a warning against what he called “voices both here and abroad” who seek to divide the country. He referred to attacks on synagogues and mosques as “acts of violence designed to send a message to the Jewish and Muslim communities of this country that they are not safe”.
“We reject their division completely, and we will fly our flag proudly. It’s our flag. It belongs to us, and we will fly it for the values that we believe in, and they are the values of the people I’ve named in this room tonight,” he said.
The reception, held on Monday 20 April 2026, came after Sir Keir had spent a bruising several hours answering questions from MPs about the latest revelations surrounding Lord Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador. Mandelson’s appointment was announced in December 2024, but he was dismissed in September 2025 amid allegations over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, including alleged payments and the passing of confidential government information. Sir Keir acknowledged in April 2026 that he had made the wrong judgment in appointing Mandelson, saying he would not have proceeded if he had known about a failed security vetting. Mandelson resigned from the Labour Party in February 2026.
St George’s Day itself falls on 23 April each year. While it was once a major feast and national holiday from the early 15th century, the tradition waned by the end of the 18th century and it is not a bank holiday. Celebrations have seen a resurgence, however, with a 46% year-on-year increase in events listed for 2026 compared with 2025. Traditional customs include flying the St George’s Cross, wearing a red rose, Morris dancing and singing the hymn “Jerusalem”. Campaigners are renewing calls for the day to become an official bank holiday.
The Prime Minister was introduced at the reception by multi-Olympic medal-winning cyclists Dame Laura Kenny and Sir Jason Kenny, who together hold 12 Olympic gold medals. The couple spoke about how they had first met Sir Keir at the Pride of Britain Awards several years ago. Fresh from his Commons appearance, Sir Keir joked: “It was great to meet you at the Pride of Britain Awards and to talk about everything but politics. I like those kind of evenings.”
Among the celebrities attending the Downing Street reception were former England and Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman; ex-England footballer, sports journalist and Strictly Come Dancing winner Karen Carney; and actor and comedian Joe Thomas, best known for the sitcom The Inbetweeners.
