Keir Starmer: How close have you come to dying?

The question

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

A recurring Guardian Q&A prompt asked directly across respondents and years.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Before I was DPP, I did a lot of work trying to get rid of the death penalty in various countries, and one was Malawi. We’d been in court in Zomba and had to get a plane in Lilongwe, about 200 miles away. We got a local taxi: the guy changed his wheels for the journey because the car wasn’t roadworthy and then hurtled at speed, mostly on the wrong side of the road. I’ve never been so terrified.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 August 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

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Bernadine Evaristo English author and academic

Travelling Europe with a friend, when I was 29. She was driving and the brakes went, on one of those vertiginous Italian mountains. It was terrifying for the 20 minutes it took to coast down the mountain.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 July 2020 source ↗

Penny Lancaster

In a different sense, I’ve helped to try to resuscitate a dead man.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 September 2025 source ↗

Irvine Welsh Scottish novelist

When a pal grabbed hold of me as I fell into an unbanistered stairwell at a rave. Would have been curtains, but for his sharp reaction.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 December 2016 source ↗

Emily Mortimer British actress

Giving birth is much more treacherous than people let on.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 31 October 2020 source ↗