Starmer thanks nurse who helped his brother to mark NHS anniversary

Sir Keir Starmer has paid tribute to an NHS advanced nurse practitioner who cared for his brother, Nick, in the final weeks before his death.

Nick died from cancer on Boxing Day 2024, aged 60.

In a video marking the NHS’s 77th anniversary, the Prime Minister said Ben Huntley ensured his brother “felt cared for and respected”.

In the clip, Sir Keir is shown speaking to Mr Huntley in Downing Street, while other members of the public also meet with NHS staff who helped them.

The Prime Minister said: “My mum worked in the NHS and then she was very, very ill, for most of her life. And the NHS became our absolute lifeline.

“My sister worked for the NHS, my wife works for the NHS, and it was the NHS that looked after my brother who we lost last Boxing Day to cancer.

“Ben, you looked after him. I think from the moment he was in all the way through, and you made sure that he felt cared for and respected.”

The PM later added: “That meant a huge amount to me and my family and, on all of our behalves, I say through you a very special thank you to the NHS.”

Earlier this week, Sir Keir told the BBC’s Political Thinking that he “made it my business to be there in the hospital” when his brother was told about his diagnosis “so that I could begin to help look after him”.

“It’s really hard to lose your brother to cancer, he was a very vulnerable man,” the Prime Minister said.

He shared details of “going up in the porter’s lift into the back of the intensive care unit” and wanting to protect his brother’s privacy.

He told the same interview that US President Donald Trump asked about his brother in a call a “few days” after he died.