The funny, sassy and streetwise woman who keeps Keir's feet firmly on around

SHE'S the one person Keir Starmer trusts implicitly but little is known about the woman who is almost guaranteed to be moving into 10 Downing Street in just over a week's time.

- EMMELINE SAUNDERS

Victoria Starmer, nee Alexander - Vic to her husband, Lady Vic to their inner circle is mother to their two children, a 15-year-old boy and a daughter aged 13.

Their names have never been publicly released because of their parents' desire to keep their lives as normal as possible.

While Vic, an NHS occupational therapist, is Keir's rock, their first encounter was hardly romantic.

A decade younger than Keir at 51, she was then a solicitor who took a phone call from the senior barrister obsessively checking if documents for a court case were accurate.

EXPLODED

"Yes, of course they are," she told him. But Keir asked again: "Are you certain?" Turning to her colleagues while putting the phone down, she exploded, "Who the f*** does he think he is?"

Happily, their first meet-up a few week later was smoother. Keir and Victoria sat next to each other at a legal dinner and she took pity on him when the pescatarian was served meat.

Forking over some of her own vegetarian meal, they got chatting and arranged a first date at the Lord Stanley pub, Camden.

Their son has denounced his dad's choice of venue as the least romantic he can imagine but Vic laughed: "At least he walked me to the bus stop afterwards and waved at me when it left, so he got a tick for that."

Keir's friends fell for Vic as hard as he did, with one telling her that she made Keir complete. He spontaneously popped the question on holiday in Santorini and they chose a ring the next day.

Two hundred guests, including Keir's four best men, saw them get married on May 6, 2007 at the Fennes Estate in Essex.