David Starkey

Starkey was born on 3 January 1945 in Kendal, Westmorland.{{Cite web|url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=Tl%2FqzuNr2VSdimsPRNqolQ&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=26 August 2020|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS|archive-date=6 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706235217/https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=Tl%2FqzuNr2VSdimsPRNqolQ&scan=1|url-status=live}}{{Cite web | title = Profile: David Starkey | url = https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/profile-david-starkey-mbvpldzpgkq | publisher = The Sunday Times | date = 28 September 2008 | access-date = 13 November 2021 | archive-date = 13 November 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211113192724/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/profile-david-starkey-mbvpldzpgkq | url-status = live }} He is the only child of Robert Starkey and Elsie Lyon, Quakers who had married 10 years previously in Bolton, at a Friends meeting house. His father, the son of a cotton spinner, was a foreman in a washing-machine factory, while his mother followed in her father's footsteps and became a cotton weaver and later a cleaner.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/3347224/Family-detective.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100317203755/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/3347224/Family-detective.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 March 2010 |publisher=telegraph.co.uk |title=Family detective |first=Nick |last=Barratt |date=27 January 2007 |access-date=13 November 2021 }} They were both born in Oldham and moved to Kendal in the 1930s during the Great Depression.{{Citation |title=Why I'm Conservative: David Starkey Lectures | date=28 February 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGKSvPHIc_M |language=en |access-date=2022-03-13 |archive-date=13 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313204812/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGKSvPHIc_M&gl=US&hl=en |url-status=live }} He was raised in an austere and frugal environment of near-poverty, with his parents often unemployed for long periods of time; an environment which, he later stated, taught him "the value of money".{{Cite news|last=Patterson|first=Christina|date=3 April 2009|title=King of the castle: David Starkey returns to his pet subject, Henry VIII|publisher=independent.co.uk|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/king-of-the-castle-david-starkey-returns-to-his-pet-subject-henry-viii-1660597.html|access-date=16 August 2011|archive-date=22 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422163053/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/king-of-the-castle-david-starkey-returns-to-his-pet-subject-henry-viii-1660597.html|url-status=live}} Starkey is equivocal about his mother, describing her as both "wonderful", in that she helped develop his ambition, and "monstrous", intellectually frustrated and living through her son. "She was a wonderful but also very frightening parent. Finally, she was a Pygmalion. She wanted a creature, she wanted something she had made." Her dominance contrasted sharply to his father, who was "poetic, reflective, rather solitary...as a father he was weak." Their relationship was "distant", but improved after his mother's death in 1977.

Starkey was born with two club feet. One was fixed early, while the other had to be operated on several times. He also suffered from polio. He suffered a nervous breakdown at secondary school, aged 13, and was taken by his mother to a boarding house in Southport, where he spent several months recovering.{{Cite news | last = Kinmount | first = Will | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/5065410/Is-David-Starkey-the-reincarnation-of-Henry-VIII.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090330234320/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/5065410/Is-David-Starkey-the-reincarnation-of-Henry-VIII.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 30 March 2009 | title = Is David Starkey the reincarnation of Henry VIII? | publisher = telegraph.co.uk | date = 28 March 2009 | access-date = 14 August 2011}} Starkey blamed the episode on the unfamiliar experience of being in a "highly competitive environment". He ultimately excelled at Kendal Grammar School, winning debating prizes and appearing in school plays.{{Cite news | last = Frost | first = Caroline | title = David Starkey: Laughing all the way to the library | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/newsmakers/1860744.stm | publisher = news.bbc.co.uk | date = 8 March 2002 | access-date = 14 August 2011 | archive-date = 25 April 2003 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20030425024545/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/newsmakers/1860744.stm | url-status = live }}

{{Quote box | quoted = 1 | source = – David Starkey | quote = The Tudors simply is this – it is a most glorious and wonderful soap opera. It makes the House of Windsor look like a dolls house tea party, it really does. And so these huge personalities, you know, the whole future of countries turn on what one man feels like when he gets out of bed in the morning – just a wonderful, wonderful personalisation of politics.|align = right| width = 33%| salign=right}}

Although he showed an early inclination towards science, he chose instead to study history.{{Cite web|last=Dale |first=Iain |title=In conversation with... David Starkey |url=http://www.totalpolitics.com/articles/2893/in-conversation-with-david-starkey.thtml |publisher=totalpolitics.com |date=18 September 2009 |access-date=18 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004152510/http://www.totalpolitics.com/articles/2893/in-conversation-with-david-starkey.thtml |archive-date=4 October 2011 |df=dmy }} A scholarship enabled his entry into Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where he gained a first-class degree, a PhD and a fellowship.

Starkey was fascinated by King Henry VIII, and his doctoral thesis focused on the Tudor monarch's inner household. His supervisor was Professor Sir Geoffrey Elton, an expert on the Tudor period. Starkey claimed that with age his mentor became "tetchy" and "arrogant". In 1983, when Elton was awarded a knighthood, Starkey derided one of his essays, Cromwell Redivivus, and Elton responded by writing an "absolutely shocking" review of a collection of essays Starkey had edited. Starkey later expressed his remorse over the spat: "I regret that the thing happened at all."{{Cite web | last = Whittell | first = Giles | title = Exclusive interview with David Starkey | url = https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/exclusive-interview-with-david-starkey-6b90dpjcnng | publisher = The Sunday Times | date = 9 October 2008 | access-date = 13 November 2021 | archive-date = 13 November 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211113194225/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/exclusive-interview-with-david-starkey-6b90dpjcnng | url-status = live }}

Starkey was a fellow at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, from 1970 to 1972.{{Cite web|title=Starkey, Dr David Robert, (born 3 Jan. 1945), historian and broadcaster|url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-36023|access-date=2021-12-21|website=WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO|year=2007|language=en|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u36023|isbn=978-0-19-954088-4|archive-date=21 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221200149/https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-36023|url-status=live}} Bored at Cambridge and attracted to London's gay scene, he secured a position as a lecturer in the Department of International History at the London School of Economics in 1972. He claimed to be an "excessively enthusiastic advocate of promiscuity",{{Cite news |last=Preston |first=John |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3669985/David-Starkey-A-man-with-a-past.html |title=David Starkey: A man with a past |publisher=telegraph.co.uk |date=16 December 2007 |access-date=14 August 2010 |archive-date=25 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110625163633/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3669985/David-Starkey-A-man-with-a-past.html |url-status=live }} seeking to liberate himself from his mother, who strongly disapproved of his homosexuality. He ended his 30-year career as a university teacher in 1998, later citing boredom and irritation with the administrative demands of modern academic life.{{Cite news | last = Barber | first = Lynn | title = 'I'd wake up and think: God, did I really say that?' | url = https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/oct/10/history.academicexperts | publisher = guardian.co.uk | date = 10 October 2004 | access-date = 15 August 2011 | archive-date = 17 April 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140417092223/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/oct/10/history.academicexperts | url-status = live }} Having already written and presented the 1984 Channel 4 documentary series This Land of England, he began to write and present several history documentaries for BBC television, beginning with the Indie Award winning Henry VIII (1998).

Starkey had already achieved notoriety as a panellist on the BBC Radio 4 debate programme The Moral Maze, debating moral issues of the day alongside fellow panellists Rabbi Hugo Gryn, Sir Roger Scruton and the journalist Janet Daley since 1992. He soon acquired a reputation for abrasiveness. He explained in 2007 that his personality possesses "a tendency towards showmanship... towards self-indulgence and explosion and repartee and occasional silliness and going over the top." The Daily Mail gave him the sobriquet of "the rudest man in Britain", to which Starkey was said to have told friends, "Don't worry darlings, it's worth at least £100,000 a year",{{cite news|url=https://www.express.co.uk/expressyourself/265237/Dr-David-Starkey-Dark-past-of-the-rudest-man-on-TV|title=Dr David Starkey: Dark past of the rudest man on TV|newspaper=Daily Express|first=Anna|last=Pukas|date=16 August 2011|access-date=5 July 2020|archive-date=6 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706095431/https://www.express.co.uk/expressyourself/265237/Dr-David-Starkey-Dark-past-of-the-rudest-man-on-TV|url-status=live}} claiming that his character was part of a "convenient image".{{Cite web|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-9994525.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505145116/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-9994525.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 May 2016 |title=Rude; Wealth; David Starkey is famous for being rich, gay and, well | publisher = The Sunday Herald | date = 23 March 2003 | page=7 | first=Peter | last=Ross |via=HighBeam Research |access-date=12 April 2016}} He once attacked George Austin, the Archdeacon of York, over "his fatness, his smugness, and his pomposity", but after a nine-year stint on the programme he left, citing his boredom with being "Dr. Rude" and its move to an evening slot.{{Cite news| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101213004122/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/david-starkey-the-history-man-427499.html | archive-date = 13 December 2010|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/david-starkey-the-history-man-427499.html | newspaper = The Independent| title=David Starkey: The history man | date=9 December 2006 | access-date=15 March 2019}}

From 1995, he also spent three years at Talk Radio UK, presenting Starkey on Saturday, later Starkey on Sunday. An interview with Denis Healey proved to be one of his most embarrassing moments: "I mistakenly thought that he had become an amiable old buffer who would engage in amusing conversation, and he tore me limb from limb. I laugh about it now, but I didn't feel like laughing about it at the time."{{Cite news | last = Morris | first = Sophie | title = David Starkey: My life in media | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/david-starkey-my-life-in-media-765548.html | publisher = independent.co.uk | date = 17 December 2007 | access-date = 15 August 2011 | archive-date = 23 January 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120123143924/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/david-starkey-my-life-in-media-765548.html | url-status = live }}

File:Family of Henry VIII c 1545.jpg and his Court]]

His first television appearance was in 1977, on Granada Television's Behave Yourself with Russell Harty. He was a prosecution witness in the 1984 ITV programme The Trial of Richard III,{{Cite news | title = The Trial of Richard III | publisher = ITV | date = 4 November 1984}}{{unverifiable|date=December 2021}} whose jury acquitted the king of the murder of the Princes in the Tower on the grounds of insufficient evidence.{{Cite web | title = Richard III On Screen | url = http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1022653/ | publisher = screenonline.org.uk | access-date = 16 August 2011 | archive-date = 4 October 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121004235557/http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1022653/ | url-status = live }} His television documentaries on The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were ratings successes. His breathless delivery of the script, with noticeable breaths and choppy cadence, is widely imitated.{{Cite book | title = Peculiar Television Personalities | publisher = Grotto Press | date = 12 May 2000}}

In 2002, he signed a £2 million contract with Channel 4 to produce 25 hours of television, including Monarchy, a chronicle of the history of English kings and queens from Anglo-Saxon times onward. He presented the 2009 series Henry: Mind of a Tyrant, which Brian Viner, a reviewer for the Independent, called "highly fascinating",{{Cite news | last = Viner | first = Brian | title = Last Night's Television – Winds, BBC4; Henry VIII: Mind of a Tyrant, Channel 4 | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/last-nights-television--windsbbc4-henry-viii-mind-of-a-tyrant-channel-4-1675074.html | publisher = independent.co.uk | date = 28 April 2009 | access-date = 16 August 2011 | archive-date = 27 January 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120127210613/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/last-nights-television--windsbbc4-henry-viii-mind-of-a-tyrant-channel-4-1675074.html | url-status = live }} although A. A. Gill was less complimentary, calling it "Hello! history".{{Cite news | last = Gill | first = AA | author-link = AA Gill | title = Henry VIII – Mind of a Tyrant was a Hello! history | url = http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article6155789.ece | publisher = The Sunday Times | date = 26 April 2009 | access-date = 16 August 2011 | archive-date = 29 April 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090429085609/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article6155789.ece | url-status = dead }} In an interview about the series for the Radio Times, Starkey complained that too many historians had focused not on Henry, but on his wives. Referring to a "feminised history", he said: "so many of the writers who write about this are women and so much of their audience is a female audience."{{Cite news | last = Adams | first = Stephen | title = History has been 'feminised' says David Starkey as he launches Henry VIII series | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/5077505/History-has-been-feminised-says-David-Starkey-as-he-launches-Henry-VIII-series.html | publisher = telegraph.co.uk | date = 30 March 2009 | access-date = 17 August 2011 | archive-date = 28 February 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110228045529/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/5077505/History-has-been-feminised-says-David-Starkey-as-he-launches-Henry-VIII-series.html | url-status = live }} This prompted the historian Lucy Worsley to describe his comments as misogynistic.{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11278424/David-Starkey-and-Lucy-Worsley-bury-the-hatchet.html |title=David Starkey and Lucy Worsley bury the hatchet |last=Singh |first=Anita |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=2014-12-08 |access-date=2019-11-24 |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235 |archive-date=6 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171106093954/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11278424/David-Starkey-and-Lucy-Worsley-bury-the-hatchet.html |url-status=live }} More recently, in 2011, he taught five history lessons in Channel 4's Jamie's Dream School,{{Cite news | title = Jamie's Dream School | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1AH_lKDQF8 | publisher = Channel 4, hosted at youtube.com | date = 2 March 2011 | access-date = 16 August 2011 | archive-date = 22 February 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130222185503/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1AH_lKDQF8&gl=US&hl=en | url-status = live }}{{cite news |last1=Harvey |first1=Chris |last2=Radford |first2=Ceri |title=Jamie's Dream School: are you sick of Jamie Oliver's celebrity lectures? |publisher=telegraph.co.uk |date=2 March 2011 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8355488/Jamies-Dream-School-are-you-sick-of-Jamie-Olivers-celebrity-lectures.html |access-date=12 April 2016 |archive-date=24 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151124100934/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8355488/Jamies-Dream-School-are-you-sick-of-Jamie-Olivers-celebrity-lectures.html |url-status=live }} after which he criticised the state education system.{{Cite news | last = Starkey | first = David | title = David Starkey: Jamie's Dream School was a lesson I'll never forget | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/8333863/David-Starkey-Jamies-Dream-School-was-a-lesson-Ill-never-forget.html | publisher = telegraph.co.uk | date = 19 February 2011 | access-date = 18 August 2011 | archive-date = 14 August 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110814153234/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/8333863/David-Starkey-Jamies-Dream-School-was-a-lesson-Ill-never-forget.html | url-status = live }}

{{blockquote | text = The core of history is narrative and biography. And the way history has been presented in the curriculum for the last 25 years is very different. The importance of knowledge has been downgraded. Instead the argument has been that it's all about skills. Supposedly, what you are trying to do with children is inculcate them with the analytical skills of the historian. Now this seems to me to be the most goddamn awful way to approach any subject, and also the most dangerous, and one, of course, that panders to all sorts of easy assumptions – 'oh we've got the internet, we don't need knowledge anymore because it's so easy to look things up'. Oh no it isn't. In order to think, you actually need the information in your mind.| sign=David Starkey}}

In 1984, Starkey was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and in 1994 a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.{{Cite web|url=http://www.sal.org.uk/history/listoffellows/?letter=S |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071104230144/http://www.sal.org.uk/history/listoffellows/?letter=S |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 November 2007 |title=Society of Antiquaries of London – List of Fellows |publisher=sal.org.uk |access-date=16 May 2010 }} He was also made an Honorary Fellow by his Cambridge College, Fitzwilliam College in 2006. From 2007 to 2015 he was Honorary Visiting Professor of History at the University of Kent and subsequently Lecturer at Goldsmiths' College (2017), Visiting Professor of History of Canterbury Christ Church University (2018–20) and Honorary Professor of History at the University of Buckingham (2019–20).{{cite web | url=https://www.kent.ac.uk/news/kentlife/25968/statement-on-dr-david-starkey | title=Statement on Dr David Starkey | date=3 July 2020 | access-date=3 July 2020 | archive-date=3 July 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703104442/https://www.kent.ac.uk/news/kentlife/25968/statement-on-dr-david-starkey | url-status=live }} {{cite web |url=http://www.kent.ac.uk/history/staff/index.html?tab=emeriti-amp-honorary-staff |title=Staff – School of History |publisher=University of Kent |date=15 August 2014 |access-date=26 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150203225327/http://www.kent.ac.uk/history/staff/index.html?tab=emeriti-amp-honorary-staff |archive-date=3 February 2015 |url-status=dead }} He has worked as curator on several exhibitions, including an exhibit in 2003 on Elizabeth I, following which he had lunch with her namesake, Elizabeth II. Several years later he told a reporter that the monarch had no interest in her predecessors, other than those who followed her great-grandfather, Edward VII. "I don't think she's at all comfortable with anybody – I would hesitate to use the word intellectual – but it's useful. I think she's got elements a bit like Goebbels in her attitude to culture – you remember: 'every time I hear the word culture I reach for my revolver.' I think the queen reaches for her mask."{{Cite news | last = Edemariam | first = Aida | title = The Queen and I | url = https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/dec/22/monarchy.television | publisher = guardian.co.uk | date = 22 December 2007 | access-date = 16 August 2011 | archive-date = 28 February 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140228165441/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/dec/22/monarchy.television | url-status = live }} His remarks were criticised by Penny Junor, a royal biographer, and Robert Lacey, a royal historian.{{Cite news | last = Sawer | first = Patrick | title = Historian David Starkey criticises the Queen | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1573480/Historian-David-Starkey-criticises-the-Queen.html | publisher = telegraph.co.uk | date = 23 December 2007 | access-date = 16 August 2011 | archive-date = 27 April 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090427170139/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1573480/Historian-David-Starkey-criticises-the-Queen.html | url-status = live }}

On 25 June 2012, Starkey gave his lecture 'Head of Our Morality: why the twentieth-century British monarchy matters' {{cite web|url=http://new.archaeologyuk.org/celebrating-the-rededication-of-the-vch-to-hm-queen-elizabeth-ii|title=Celebrating the rededication of the VCH to HM Queen Elizabeth II – Council for British Archaeology|access-date=16 May 2017|archive-date=22 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222162650/http://new.archaeologyuk.org/celebrating-the-rededication-of-the-vch-to-hm-queen-elizabeth-ii|url-status=live}} at The Marc Fitch Lectures.

File:Benjamin Disraeli by Cornelius Jabez Hughes, 1878.jpg by Cornelius Jabez Hughes, 1878.]]

Starkey's political views have changed over the years from what he called "middle-of-the-road Labour left until the end of the 1970s" to a conservative outlook, that he attributed to economic failures of the Callaghan government. He is a supporter of one-nation conservatism and believes that Victorian Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli was a great symbol of this. He has written that Disraeli was "exotic, slippery and had a gift for language and phrase-making", drawing similarities with the rhetorical style of former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He argues that the working classes need more explicit "nationalism" of the type demonstrated by Disraeli.{{Cite web|last=Gimson|first=Andrew|date=December 2019|title=The Critic, a new magazine which sets out to expose and ridicule bad ideas|url=https://www.conservativehome.com/highlights/2019/12/the-critic-a-new-magazine-which-sets-out-to-expose-and-ridicule-bad-ideas.html|access-date=13 August 2020|archive-date=13 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813144813/https://www.conservativehome.com/highlights/2019/12/the-critic-a-new-magazine-which-sets-out-to-expose-and-ridicule-bad-ideas.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|last=Parkinson|first=Justin|date=4 October 2011|title=Tory conference: Starkey lets Cameron have it|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15158057|access-date=20 June 2018|archive-date=15 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180915222844/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15158057|url-status=live}} He believes that Disraelianism could strengthen the Anglo-American "conservative" alliance between US and the UK. However, he suspects that despite Boris Johnson being a Conservative Prime Minister, he is actually "a liberal", so he doubts whether Johnson would ever take this view.{{Cite web|last=Maclean|first=Stephen|date=8 March 2020|title=What Trump and Boris Can Learn From Disraeli Lessons in statecraft to strengthen the Anglo-American alliance.|url=https://spectator.org/what-trump-and-boris-can-learn-from-disraeli/|access-date=13 August 2020|archive-date=10 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210184108/https://spectator.org/what-trump-and-boris-can-learn-from-disraeli/|url-status=live}}

Starkey blames the Callaghan administration for "blow[ing] the nation's finances". During the 1980s he was an active Conservative Party member, and he was a Conservative candidate for Islington Borough Council in 1986 in Tollington ward,{{cite book |url=http://data.london.gov.uk/documents/LBCE_1986-5-8.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515200352/http://data.london.gov.uk/documents/LBCE_1986-5-8.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 May 2012 |title=London Borough Council Elections, 8 May 1986 |publisher=Research and Intelligence Unit, London Residuary Body |year=1986 |page=46}} and in 1990 in Hillrise ward.{{cite book |url=http://data.london.gov.uk/documents/LBCE_1990-5-3.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515200534/http://data.london.gov.uk/documents/LBCE_1990-5-3.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 May 2012 |title=London Borough Council Elections, 3 May 1990 |publisher=London Research Centre |year=1990 |page=52}}

He bemoaned the Conservatives when they were in opposition, criticising Michael Howard in particular: "I knew Michael Howard was going to be a disaster as soon as he opposed top-up fees, either out of sentimentality or calculated expediency so that it might get him a bit of the student vote...Instead of backing Tony Blair, causing revolution in the Labour Party, the Conservatives have been whoring after strange gods, coming up with increasingly strange policies."{{Citation | last = Thompson | first = Damien | title = England has a terrible crisis of identity | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3646412/England-has-a-terrible-crisis-of-identity.html | publisher = telegraph.co.uk | date = 9 September 2005 | access-date = 16 August 2011 | archive-date = 11 November 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121111142114/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3646412/England-has-a-terrible-crisis-of-identity.html | url-status = live }} He likened Gordon Brown to the fictional Kenneth Widmerpool, continuing, "It seems to me that with Brown there is a complete sense of humour and charm bypass." Of Ed Miliband, in 2015 he said "He is a man of high ambition and low talent – the worst possible combination. His whole language at the moment is soak the rich, hate the rich."{{Cite news | last = Stadlen | first = Matthew | title = David Starkey: why Ed Miliband is 'poison' and David Cameron 'muddle-headed' | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11528077/David-Starkey-why-Ed-Miliband-is-poison-and-David-Cameron-muddle-headed.html | publisher = telegraph.co.uk | date = 10 April 2015 | access-date = 11 April 2015 | archive-date = 11 April 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150411011221/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11528077/David-Starkey-why-Ed-Miliband-is-poison-and-David-Cameron-muddle-headed.html | url-status = live }}

During the 2011 Conservative Party Conference he spoke at a fringe meeting, declaring Mayor Boris Johnson to be a "jester-despot" and the Prime Minister, David Cameron, as having "absolutely no strategy" for running the country. He urged the party to re-engage with the working class rather than the "Guardian-reading middle class".{{Cite news | last = Parkinson | first = Justin | title = Tory conference: Starkey lets Cameron have it | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15158057 | publisher = bbc.co.uk | date = 4 October 2011 | access-date = 11 October 2011 | archive-date = 6 October 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111006210709/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15158057 | url-status = live }} In 2015 he claimed that while Cameron and his Chancellor, George Osborne, had introduced some meaningful reforms to education and welfare policies, they had not made large enough cuts to the UK's budget deficit.

Starkey prefers radical changes to the UK's constitution in line with the federal system used by the United States, although in an interview with Iain Dale he expressed his support for the monarchy, the Queen and Prince Charles. In the run-up to the UK Alternative Vote referendum, he was a signatory on a letter to The Times, which urged people to vote against the proposals.{{Cite web|url=http://www.conservatives.com/News/News_stories/2011/03/Historians_against_AV.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110314050733/http://www.conservatives.com/News/News_stories/2011/03/Historians_against_AV.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 March 2011 |title=Historians against AV |publisher=conservatives.com |date=11 March 2011 |access-date=14 August 2011 }} Starkey thinks the modern UK House of Commons has become a weak political institution and that it should return to its core value of being in defiance of state authority, as it was in its origin. He believes the House too often gives way to the state, such as with the police being allowed to search the place without a warrant. This occurred in 2008 with the searching of the Westminster office of Conservative politician Damian Green after the custodians of the House, the Speaker and the Serjeant at Arms, allowed the police to search the place without a warrant.{{Cite web|last=Freedland|first=Jonathan|date=7 Dec 2008|title=Britain's broken constitution|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/dec/07/damian-green-queens-speech|access-date=6 November 2020|website=The Guardian|archive-date=7 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707053611/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/dec/07/damian-green-queens-speech|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|date=5 December 2008|title=Is the constitution in need of reform? (Original source)|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/this_week/7766700.stm|access-date=6 November 2020|website=BBC News|archive-date=25 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625234425/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/this_week/7766700.stm|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|last=Press Association|date=7 December 2009|title=Serjeant at arms apologises over Damian Green arrest|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/dec/07/serjeant-at-arms-jill-pay-damian-green-arrest|access-date=6 November 2020|website=The Guardian|archive-date=20 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211120223001/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/dec/07/serjeant-at-arms-jill-pay-damian-green-arrest|url-status=live}}

Starkey was a supporter of the Tory Campaign for Homosexual Equality ("Torche"),{{#tag:ref|Starkey later resigned from this post.{{Cite web | last1 = Benedict | first1 = David | last2 = Lyttle | first2 = John | title = Moving into the mainstream | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/moving-into-the-mainstream-1583853.html | publisher = independent.co.uk | date = 27 November 1995 | access-date = 16 August 2011 | archive-date = 28 August 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160828002603/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/moving-into-the-mainstream-1583853.html | url-status = live }}|group="nb"}}{{Cite news | last = Gove | first = Michael | author-link = Michael Gove | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/gay_rights/12016.shtml | title = On The Record | publisher = bbc.co.uk | date = 20 June 1993 | access-date = 14 August 2011 | archive-date = 16 August 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110816172445/http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/gay_rights/12016.shtml | url-status = live }} and during one of many appearances on the BBC's Question Time he attacked Jeffrey Archer over his views on the age of homosexual consent.{{Cite news | last = Havard | first = Ed | title = Question Time defined by 'epic' battles | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/question_time/9366830.stm | publisher = news.bbc.co.uk | date = 20 January 2011 | access-date = 16 August 2011 | archive-date = 10 February 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230210184107/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/question_time/9366830.stm | url-status = live }} However, in 2012 he described himself as "torn" on the issue of same-sex marriage, describing marriage as "part of the baggage of heterosexual society."{{cite news | url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26634214 | title= The people who oppose the gay marriage law | work= BBC News | date= 26 March 2014 | access-date= 27 December 2018 | archive-date= 27 January 2019 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190127050831/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26634214 | url-status= live }}

In 2009, Mike Russell, then the Scottish Government Minister for Culture and External Affairs, called on him to apologise for his declaration on the programme that Scotland, Ireland and Wales are "feeble little countries".{{Cite web | last = MacDonald | first = Stuart | title = Call for David Starkey to say 'sorry' to Scotland | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6169267.ece | publisher = The Times | date = 26 April 2009 | access-date = 16 August 2011 | archive-date = 10 February 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230210184113/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/ | url-status = dead }}{{Cite news | title = 'Feeble nation' jibe sparks row | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8016440.stm | publisher = news.bbc.co.uk | date = 24 April 2009 | access-date = 16 August 2011 | archive-date = 27 April 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090427083610/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8016440.stm | url-status = live }} Starkey responded that it had been a joke regarding the lack of necessity for the English to outwardly celebrate their nationalism, approvingly quoting H. G. Wells's observation that "the English are the only nation without national dress". He described Alex Salmond, then Scottish First Minister, as a "Caledonian Hitler" who thinks that "the English, like the Jews, are everywhere".{{Cite news | title = David Starkey: Alex Salmond is a 'Caledonian Hitler' | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9214792/David-Starkey-Alex-Salmond-is-a-Caledonian-Hitler.html | publisher = telegraph.co.uk | date = 19 April 2012 | access-date = 21 April 2012 | archive-date = 19 April 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120419225141/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9214792/David-Starkey-Alex-Salmond-is-a-Caledonian-Hitler.html | url-status = live }} In August 2014, Starkey was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/aug/07/celebrities-open-letter-scotland-independence-full-text |title=Celebrities' open letter to Scotland – full text and list of signatories |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=7 August 2014 |access-date=26 August 2014 |archive-date=17 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140817131736/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/aug/07/celebrities-open-letter-scotland-independence-full-text |url-status=live }} In June 2015 in an interview for The Sunday Times Starkey compared the Scottish National Party (SNP) with the Nazi Party.{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/david-starkey-branded-serial-utterer-of-bile-and-bilge-for-offensive-comments-comparing-snp-to-nazis-10318727.html?icn=puff-12 |last=O'Connor |first=Roisin |title=David Starkey branded 'serial utterer of bile and bilge' for 'offensive' comments comparing SNP to Nazis |newspaper=The Independent |date=14 June 2015 |access-date=4 July 2020 |archive-date=4 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704124840/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/david-starkey-branded-serial-utterer-of-bile-and-bilge-for-offensive-comments-comparing-snp-to-nazis-10318727.html?icn=puff-12 |url-status=live }} He said:

You have as a symbol the twisted cross: the saltire or the swastika. You have a passionate belief in self-sufficiency: known by the Nazis as autarky and the Scots as oil. And also you have the propensity of your elderly and middle-aged supporters to expose their knees.{{cite news |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/historian-david-starkey-compares-snp-nazis-1502403 |title=Historian David Starkey compares SNP to Nazis |newspaper=The Scotsman |date=15 June 2015 |access-date=4 July 2020 |archive-date=4 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704113209/https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/historian-david-starkey-compares-snp-nazis-1502403}}

SNP member of parliament Kirsten Oswald described Starkey's comments as "deeply offensive" to the Jewish community and SNP voters, and described Starkey as a "serial utterer of bile and bilge".

Starkey is very critical of the European Union (EU). As a result, he supported the "Leave" vote in the 2016 EU referendum.{{Cite web|last=Dugdale|first=John|date=3 February 2020|title=Hilary Mantel's in, David Starkey's out: the literary battle of Brussels|website=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jun/11/hilary-mantel-in-david-starkey-out-literary--battle-brussels-european-union-referendum|access-date=6 August 2020|archive-date=18 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201118102119/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jun/11/hilary-mantel-in-david-starkey-out-literary--battle-brussels-european-union-referendum|url-status=live}} This is because, Starkey argues, the United Kingdom is best off as a self-governing nation, and the EU conflicts with this notion of self-government. Furthermore, he believes that the continuing support for the ideas of national pride and sovereignty, not xenophobia, in the UK were the biggest factors behind the UK's decision to leave the EU. He argues that the support for these ideas is what makes the UK different from the other EU member states which, as a result of the legacy of World War Two, tend to believe that nationalism is the cause of war and so joined the EU to prevent this.{{Cite web|last=Scotto Di Santolo|first=Alessandra|date=20 December 2019|title=David Starkey exposes why UK never belonged in EU 'straightforward pride in being English'|url=https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1219470/david-starkey-Britain-EU-member-states-UK-EU-brexit-news-nationalism|access-date=6 August 2020|archive-date=10 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210184110/https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1219470/david-starkey-Britain-EU-member-states-UK-EU-brexit-news-nationalism|url-status=live}}{{better source needed|reason=The Express is not a reliable source|date=September 2023}}

As a historian, Starkey presents Brexit in a wider historical context to try to show its importance in British history. He makes comparisons between Brexit and Henry VIII's split from Rome and the Reformation that followed.{{Cite web|last=Myers|first=Fraser|date=22 March 2019|title=Europe is no blessed realm of sanity|url=https://www.spiked-online.com/2019/03/22/europe-is-no-blessed-realm-of-sanity/|access-date=6 August 2020|archive-date=5 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190705080305/https://www.spiked-online.com/2019/03/22/europe-is-no-blessed-realm-of-sanity/|url-status=live}} He believes the Reformation sowed the seeds of Euroscepticism, particularly in England, and the nation's "semi-detached relationship with continental Europe". This had its origin with Henry VIII because "nobody before Henry would make any argument about England being much different from the rest of Europe. It was Henry who turns England into a defensible island, who literally fortifies the English coastline. It really is Henry that turns England into a genuine island." He claimed that Henry VIII could be considered the first Brexiteer. As Starkey explained in an interview in 2018, "The Roman Church was a super-national organisation with its own system of law, its own language, governance and own system of taxation. In other words, exactly like the European Union! And it's no accident at all that the EU was founded by the Treaty of Rome."{{Cite web|date=31 July 2018|title='Was Henry VIII the First Brexiteer?' asks David Starkey|url=https://www.timeslocalnews.co.uk/culture/was-henry-viii-the-first-brexiteer-asks-david-starkey|access-date=6 August 2020|archive-date=10 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210184112/https://www.timeslocalnews.co.uk/lifestyle/was-henry-viii-the-first-brexiteer-asks-david-starkey/|url-status=live}} He explains that Henry VIII fought on the grounds of England ruling itself, which is analogous to the Brexit debates.{{Cite news |date=25 September 2018 |title=David Starkey on Brexit repeating history – and why he thinks Theresa May is '˜terrible' |newspaper=Yorkshire Post |url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/politics/david-starkey-brexit-repeating-history-and-why-he-thinks-theresa-may-terrible-576121 |access-date=6 August 2020 |archive-date=7 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507061613/https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/politics/david-starkey-brexit-repeating-history-and-why-he-thinks-theresa-may-terrible-576121 }}

Starkey argues that "Remainers have somehow got the notion that we get our rights and liberties from Europe" but that, in fact, the English created their own values over their 800-year history.{{Cite web|last=Bet|first=Martina|date=29 December 2019|title=David Starkey savages EU with brutal swipe: 'Brussels is a poor PARODY of England!'|url=https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1221982/brexit-news-latest-eu-boris-johnson-european-union-human-rights-david-starkey-spt|access-date=6 August 2020|archive-date=10 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210184047/https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1221982/brexit-news-latest-eu-boris-johnson-european-union-human-rights-david-starkey-spt|url-status=live}}{{better source needed|reason=The Express is not a reliable source|date=September 2023}} He believes that Brexit was a reaffirmation of those values, but was nevertheless a "deeply irrational vote, not about what will make us better off, but rather, 'we'll be poorer, but we'll be free{{'"}}.{{Cite web|last=Cohen|first=Lee|date=10 February 2020|title=A conversation with leading British historian David Starkey on Brexit eve|website=The Washington Times|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/feb/10/a-conversation-with-leading-british-historian-davi/|access-date=6 August 2020|archive-date=16 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200216224356/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/feb/10/a-conversation-with-leading-british-historian-davi/|url-status=live}}

Starkey is an atheist.{{Cite news|date=4 March 2011|title=Gay atheist Starkey warns of tyranny against Christians|work=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/question_time/9414147.stm|access-date=9 August 2020|archive-date=10 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210184042/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/question_time/9414147.stm|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|last=Phillips|first=Francis|date=10 March 2011|title='Gay and atheist' David Starkey is defending Christian conscience more clearly than our bishops|work=Catholic Herald|url=https://catholicherald.co.uk/gay-and-atheist-david-starkey-is-defending-christian-conscience-more-clearly-than-our-bishops/|access-date=9 August 2020|archive-date=17 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517115005/https://catholicherald.co.uk/gay-and-atheist-david-starkey-is-defending-christian-conscience-more-clearly-than-our-bishops/|url-status=live}} He has described the Catholic Church as being "riddled with corruption".{{cite web|last=Dixon|first=Haley|date=17 March 2013|title=Catholic Church is 'irredeemably corrupt', David Starkey claims|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/the-pope/9935689/Catholic-Church-is-irredeemably-corrupt-David-Starkey-claims.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130320083447/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/the-pope/9935689/Catholic-Church-is-irredeemably-corrupt-David-Starkey-claims.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 March 2013|access-date=29 March 2013|work=The Daily Telegraph}} However, he has often defended the right for Christians to hold their beliefs, arguing that they should have the right to their views and penalising them for it is "intolerant, oppressive and tyrannical".{{Cite web|date=4 March 2011|title=Video: Gay historian David Starkey defends Christians|publisher=The Christian Institute|url=https://www.christian.org.uk/news/video-gay-historian-david-starkey-defends-christians/|access-date=9 August 2020|archive-date=28 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928235612/https://www.christian.org.uk/news/video-gay-historian-david-starkey-defends-christians/|url-status=live}}

Starkey believes the royal charter of rights Magna Carta is of great importance. He has often spoken about it and has written about it most notably in his book Magna Carta: The True Story Behind the Charter (2015). He also presented a television documentary on the subject David Starkey's Magna Carta, in which he argued that Magna Carta is a steadying force for constitutions. He believes that Magna Carta is essential in keeping peace and constraints on the state and the public and says that it is this rather shaky but very important 800 year old document that has led to a "constitutional edifice" developing in the UK.{{Cite web|last=Mangan|first=Lucy|date=27 January 2015|title=David Starkey's Magna Carta review – he's a far better history teacher than political pundit|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/jan/27/david-starkeys-magna-carta-review-history-political|access-date=2 November 2020|website=The Guardian|archive-date=22 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422142657/https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/jan/27/david-starkeys-magna-carta-review-history-political|url-status=live}}

Starkey often speaks about the political implications of Magna Carta in present-day politics. He believes the modern UK state appears to be fragmenting and would be helped by the core principles of the charter with a new charter of liberties or a new William Marshal figure.{{Cite web|last=Tanner|first=Marcus|date=30 April 2015|title=Magna Carta, The True Story Behind the Charter by David Starkey, book review|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/magna-carta-true-story-behind-charter-david-starkey-book-review-10215666.html|access-date=2 November 2020|website=The Independent|archive-date=10 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210184044/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/magna-carta-the-true-story-behind-the-charter-by-david-starkey-book-review-10215666.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|last=Finlay|first=Victoria|date=1 May 2015|title=Magna Carta: The true story behind the charter by David Starkey - book review|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/magna-carta-true-story-behind-charter-david-starkey-book-review-1215-and-all-10219706.html|access-date=2 November 2020|website=The Independent|archive-date=7 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107133636/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/magna-carta-true-story-behind-charter-david-starkey-book-review-1215-and-all-10219706.html|url-status=live}} In a review of Starkey's book on Magna Carta, medieval historian James Masschaele said that Starkey viewed the barons as republican figures.{{cite journal |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/689707 |last1=Masschaele |first1=James |date=January 2017 |title=David Starkey, Magna Carta: The True Story behind the Charter - book review |journal=Speculum |volume=92 |issue=1 |pages=224–227 |doi=10.1086/689707 |access-date=8 December 2021 |archive-date=9 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209195320/https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/689707 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}

Starkey attracted criticism in August 2011 for comments he made on BBC Two's Newsnight programme, in an episode discussing the 2011 England riots where he was a panel member alongside Owen Jones and Dreda Say Mitchell.{{cite news|title=England riots: 'The whites have become black' says David Starkey|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14513517|access-date=13 January 2016|work=BBC News|date=13 August 2011|archive-date=15 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110815022708/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14513517|url-status=live}} Citing Enoch Powell's "Rivers of Blood" speech, he said:{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8700109/Historian-Starkey-in-racism-row-over-riot-comments.html|title=Historian Starkey in 'racism' row over riot comments|first=David|last=Barrett|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=14 August 2011|access-date=5 July 2020|archive-date=11 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211084253/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8700109/Historian-Starkey-in-racism-row-over-riot-comments.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite news | title = Ed Miliband condemns David Starkey's race comments | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14531077 | work = BBC News | date = 15 August 2011 | access-date = 24 April 2020 | archive-date = 5 August 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200805033229/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14531077 | url-status = live }}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/aug/13/david-starkey-claims-whites-black|title=David Starkey claims 'the whites have become black'|first=Ben|last=Quinn|newspaper=The Guardian|date=13 August 2011|access-date=5 July 2020|archive-date=4 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704123347/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/aug/13/david-starkey-claims-whites-black|url-status=live}}

His prophesy was absolutely right in one sense. The Tiber did not foam with blood but flames lambent, they wrapped around Tottenham and wrapped around Clapham. But it wasn't inter-community violence. This is where he was absolutely wrong.

What has happened is that the substantial section of the chavs that you wrote about [Jones, in his then-recent book Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class] have become black. The whites have become black. A particular sort of violent, destructive, nihilistic, gangster culture has become the fashion.

And black and white, boy and girl, operate in this language together, this language which is wholly false, which is this Jamaican patois that's been intruded in England, and this is why so many of us have this sense of literally a foreign country.

He also said that when listening to the voice of David Lammy, whom he described as "an archetypal successful black man", one "would think he was white". In response, Mitchell criticised Starkey for focusing on "black culture", saying: "black communities are not homogenous. So there are black cultures. Lots of different black cultures."

Following the programme, both of Starkey's fellow panellists condemned the remarks: Jones described it as a "career-ending moment" for Starkey, while Mitchell wrote in The Guardian that "it is [...] very difficult to argue with crass stupidity", calling his views on the matter "ignorant and confused".{{Cite news |last=Mitchell |first=Dreda Say |date=14 August 2011 |title=David Starkey's ethnic year zero |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/aug/14/david-starkey-ethnic-year-zero |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240327053535/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/aug/14/david-starkey-ethnic-year-zero |archive-date=27 March 2024 |access-date=9 April 2025 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB}} The then-leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband, said that the remarks were "racist comments, frankly, and there is no place for them in our society". David Lammy called them "irrelevant".

Rod Liddle argued in support of the remarks in his column in The Spectator.{{Cite news|last=Liddle |first=Rod |url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/rodliddle/7168573/is-david-starkey-a-racist.thtml |title=Is David Starkey a Racist? |work=The Spectator |access-date=17 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006170125/http://www.spectator.co.uk/rodliddle/7168573/is-david-starkey-a-racist.thtml |archive-date=6 October 2011 |df=dmy }} Writing for The Telegraph, author Toby Young defended Starkey, saying that he had not been talking about black culture in general.{{Cite news | last = Young | first = Toby | title = Was David Starkey being racist on Newsnight last night? | url = http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyyoung/100100845/was-david-starkey-being-racist-on-newsnight-last-night/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110927055707/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyyoung/100100845/was-david-starkey-being-racist-on-newsnight-last-night/ | url-status = dead | archive-date = 27 September 2011 | work = The Telegraph | date = 13 August 2011 | access-date = 17 August 2011}} Also in The Telegraph, Starkey argued his views had been distorted, he referred only to a "particular sort" of "black culture", and that the educationalists Tony Sewell and Katharine Birbalsingh{{Cite news | last = Birbalsingh | first = Katharine | title = David Starkey 'racism' row: I wish white people, on both sides of the argument, would take a chill pill | url = http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/katharinebirbalsingh/100101045/david-starkey-racism-row-i-wish-white-people-on-both-sides-of-the-argument-would-take-a-chill-pill/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110928153304/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/katharinebirbalsingh/100101045/david-starkey-racism-row-i-wish-white-people-on-both-sides-of-the-argument-would-take-a-chill-pill/ | url-status = dead | archive-date = 28 September 2011 | work = The Telegraph | date = 15 August 2011 | access-date = 21 August 2011}}. supported the substance of his Newsnight comments.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8711621/UK-riots-Its-not-about-criminality-and-cuts-its-about-culture...-and-this-is-only-the-beginning.html |title=UK riots: It's not about criminality and cuts, it's about culture... and this is only the beginning |last=Starkey |first=David |date=19 August 2011 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=20 August 2011 |archive-date=20 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110820030613/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8711621/UK-riots-Its-not-about-criminality-and-cuts-its-about-culture...-and-this-is-only-the-beginning.html |url-status=live }}

The programme was broadcast on Friday night; by the following Monday, the BBC had received 696 complaints, and the broadcasting regulator Ofcom a further 103, about the comments, and a petition demanding a public apology from the BBC had attracted over 3,600 signatures.{{Cite news |last=O'Carroll |first=Lisa |date=15 August 2011 |title=David Starkey's Newsnight race remarks: hundreds complain to BBC |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/aug/15/david-starkey-newsinght-race-remarks |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230807201244/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/aug/15/david-starkey-newsinght-race-remarks |archive-date=7 August 2023 |access-date=9 April 2025 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB}}{{Cite news | last = Singh | first = Anita | title = David Starkey: why Emily Maitlis is a disgrace | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8804820/David-Starkey-why-Emily-Maitlis-is-a-disgrace.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111014013623/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8804820/David-Starkey-why-Emily-Maitlis-is-a-disgrace.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 14 October 2011 | work = The Telegraph | date = 4 October 2011 | access-date = 11 October 2011}} Ofcom deemed the comments to have been part of a "serious and measured discussion" and took no action, and Starkey described the reaction as "hysteria about race".{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/david-starkey-labelled-a-bigot-after-calling-mehdi-hasan-ahmed-on-bbc-question-time-during-9982048.html|title=David Starkey labelled a 'bigot' after calling Mehdi Hasan 'Ahmed' on BBC Question Time during Islamaphobia debate|work=The Independent|first=Helen|last=Nianias|date=16 January 2015|access-date=5 July 2020|archive-date=4 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704191146/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/david-starkey-labelled-a-bigot-after-calling-mehdi-hasan-ahmed-on-bbc-question-time-during-9982048.html|url-status=live}}

In the aftermath of the Newsnight broadcast, 102 university historians signed an open letter, published in the Times Higher Education magazine, asking broadcasters to "think carefully" before inviting Starkey to discuss topics beyond his field of expertise. They asked that, if he was invited, to not allow him to "bring our profession into disrepute" by introducing him as "the historian, David Starkey", as the BBC had done previously.{{cite news |url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/comment/letters/starkeys-ignorance-is-hardly-work-of-history/417236.article |first1=Alun |last1=Munslow |first2=Paul |last2=Gilroy |first3=Derek |last3=Sayer

|first4=Stephen |last4=Constantine |display-authors=etal |title=Starkey's ignorance is hardly work of history |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706144114/https://www.timeshighereducation.com/comment/letters/starkeys-ignorance-is-hardly-work-of-history/417236.article |archive-date=6 July 2020 |work=The Times Higher Education |date=August 2011}}{{Cite news |last=Singh |first=Anita |date=26 August 2011 |title=David Starkey's views on race disgrace the academic world, say historians |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8722917/David-Starkeys-views-on-race-disgrace-the-academic-world-say-historians.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240522204421/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8722917/David-Starkeys-views-on-race-disgrace-the-academic-world-say-historians.html |archive-date=22 May 2024 |access-date=9 April 2025 |work=The Telegraph |language=en}} The letter said that "his crass generalisations about black culture and white culture as oppositional, monolithic entities demonstrate a failure to grasp the subtleties of race and class that would disgrace a first-year history undergraduate" and that he "displayed some of the worst practices of an academic" in his interactions with the other panellists, saying that he "belittled and derided them" instead of responding thoughtfully.{{cite web|url=https://www.politics.co.uk/news/2011/08/26/britain-s-historians-turn-on-starkey|title=Britain's historians turn on Starkey|first=Ian|last=Dunt|website=politics.co.uk|date= 26 August 2011|access-date=5 July 2020|archive-date=5 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200705145702/https://www.politics.co.uk/news/2011/08/26/britain-s-historians-turn-on-starkey|url-status=dead}}

In 2012, Jones wrote in The Independent that the controversy had been "one of the ugliest episodes of the backlash" against the riots.{{cite news|last1=Jones|first1=Owen|title=Owen Jones: Why 'chavs' were the riots' scapegoats|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/owen-jones-why-chavs-were-the-riots-scapegoats-7697824.html|access-date=12 January 2016|work=The Independent|date=30 April 2012|archive-date=16 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216051125/http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/owen-jones-why-chavs-were-the-riots-scapegoats-7697824.html|url-status=live}}

In a June 2012 debate Starkey was criticised for stating that the perpetrators of the Rochdale child sex abuse ring had values "entrenched in the foothills of the Punjab or wherever it is" and were "acting within their cultural norm".{{cite news|last1=Grimston|first1=Jack|last2=Loveys|first2=Kate|title=Starkey erupts in racism rumpus|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/starkey-erupts-in-racism-rumpus-s7r230bqzrb|access-date=24 June 2012|work=The Sunday Times|url-access=subscription|date=24 June 2012|archive-date=18 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170418083621/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/starkey-erupts-in-racism-rumpus-s7r230bqzrb|url-status=live}} He was accused by his fellow panelist writer Laurie Penny, of "playing xenophobia and national prejudice for laughs". In 2013, he criticised the inclusion of the British-Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole in British school history curriculums, which he argued

unduly promoted her and her work.{{cite news |last1=Batley |first1=Amy |title=Apology from former Fitzwilliam fellow David Starkey criticised as 'outrageous' |url=https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/19593 |access-date=11 January 2022 |work=Varsity |date=6 July 2020 |archive-date=29 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629103202/https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/19593 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Innes-Smith |first1=James |title=The problem with YouTube's political adverts |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-i-m-pressing-skip-on-youtube-s-politics |access-date=11 January 2022 |work=The Spectator |date=16 October 2021 |archive-date=11 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220111202801/https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-i-m-pressing-skip-on-youtube-s-politics |url-status=live }}

In January 2015, Starkey, on a television programme, called political journalist Mehdi Hasan "Ahmed" and said that "nothing important" had been written in Arabic for 500 years. He also appeared to imply that a female victim of a child sexual abuse grooming gang was at fault for the abuse she had experienced. He received a large amount of criticism on Twitter for these comments.{{cite web|url=https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/01/16/david-starkey-slammed-for-calling-medhi-hasan-ahmed-on-question-time|title=David Starkey slammed for calling Mehdi Hasan 'Ahmed' on Question Time|work=PinkNews|first=Nick|last=Duffy|date=16 January 2015|access-date=5 July 2020|archive-date=6 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706105454/https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/01/16/david-starkey-slammed-for-calling-medhi-hasan-ahmed-on-question-time/|url-status=live}}

In November 2015, the University of Cambridge dropped a fundraising video featuring Starkey after a backlash from staff and students.{{cite news |last1=Weaver |first1=Matthew |title=Cambridge University drops David Starkey video after racism row |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/nov/19/cambridge-university-drops-david-starkey-video-racism-row |work=The Guardian |date=19 November 2015 |access-date=2 July 2020 |archive-date=2 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702180552/https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/nov/19/cambridge-university-drops-david-starkey-video-racism-row |url-status=live }} A letter signed by hundreds of students and staff criticised Starkey's involvement in the video due to him "repeatedly making racist statements".{{Cite news|date=2015-11-19|title=Cambridge University David Starkey video removed amid racism row |language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-34870335|access-date=2020-07-02|archive-date=7 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807143911/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-34870335|url-status=live}}

In May 2023, speaking to GB News, Starkey expressed his belief that prime minister Rishi Sunak was "not fully grounded in" British culture.{{Cite news |title=David Starkey says PM uninterested in coronation as he is 'not grounded in our culture' |author=Jamie Grierson |work=The Guardian |date=4 May 2023 |access-date=13 May 2023 |url= https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/may/04/david-starkey-says-pm-uninterested-in-coronation-as-he-is-not-grounded-in-our-culture}} When the host, Andrew Pierce, asked him to clarify Starkey confirmed that he attributed this to Sunak's Hindu religion. Sunak was born in Southampton, Hampshire.{{cite news |last1=Hooker |first1=Lucy |last2=Espiner |first2=Tom |date=10 July 2020 |title=Rishi Sunak: The 'whatever it takes' chancellor |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51490893 |access-date=10 July 2020 |archive-date=13 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200213142047/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51490893 |url-status=live }} Starkey later denied his comments were racist, saying he was referring to the prime minister being a "typical international liberal" with no interest in British "values".{{cite news |last1=McKeon |first1=Christopher |title=Left-wing wants to replace Holocaust with Black Lives Matter, says David Starkey |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/david-starkey-black-lives-matter-scots-jews-london-b2340469.html |access-date=17 May 2023 |work=The Independent |date=17 May 2023 |language=en}}

On 30 June 2020, in a podcast interview with Darren Grimes, Starkey spoke about the Black Lives Matter movement. Starkey suggested that people should not "go on about" slavery because it had been abolished in 1833 and that "slavery was not genocide, otherwise there wouldn't be so many damn blacks in Africa or in Britain would there? An awful lot of them survived".{{Cite web|title=Dr David Starkey: Black Lives Matter Aims To Delegitimate British History|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tVjZ9hA4SQ| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211113/2tVjZ9hA4SQ| archive-date=2021-11-13 | url-status=live|website=Youtube| date=30 June 2020 }}{{cbignore}}{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/david-starkey-racist-slavery-genocide-reasoned-darren-grimes-a9598296.html|title=David Starkey under fire for saying 'slavery wasn't genocide' because 'so many damn blacks' survived|website=The Independent|date=2 July 2020|first=Peter|last=Stubley|access-date=2 July 2020|archive-date=3 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703010420/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/david-starkey-racist-slavery-genocide-reasoned-darren-grimes-a9598296.html|url-status=live}}{{cite news |title=David Starkey widely criticised for 'slavery was not genocide' remarks |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/jul/02/david-starkey-widely-criticised-for-saying-slavery-was-not-genocide |work=The Guardian |date=2 July 2020 |language=en |access-date=2 July 2020 |archive-date=2 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702212243/https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/jul/02/david-starkey-widely-criticised-for-saying-slavery-was-not-genocide |url-status=live }} He had made the same point in a column eight days earlier except without the use of the word "damn".{{cite magazine |first=David |last=Starkey |title=A perversion of Puritanism |magazine=The Critic |date=22 June 2020 |url=https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/july-august-2020/a-perversion-of-puritanism-which-aims-to-trash-our-history/ |access-date=15 July 2020 |archive-date=5 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200705011118/https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/july-august-2020/a-perversion-of-puritanism-which-aims-to-trash-our-history/ |url-status=live }} Starkey's comments were rebuffed by former Chancellor Sajid Javid, who said they were racist and that they serve as "a reminder of the appalling views that still exist", and they were widely described as racist in the media. Historian David Olusoga, praised by Starkey in the same broadcast, described the comments as "truly disgusting. And by the same ridiculous, twisted logic the Holocaust would not be counted as a genocide".

As a result, the Mary Rose Trust accepted his resignation from the board of trustees{{cite news |title=David Starkey criticised over slavery comments |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-53262668 |work=BBC News |date=3 July 2020 |access-date=2 July 2020 |archive-date=2 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702203214/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-53262668 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Historian David Starkey under fire for 'slavery wasn't genocide' comment |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/david-starkey-racist-slavery-genocide-reasoned-darren-grimes-a9598296.html |work=The Independent |date=2 July 2020 |language=en |access-date=2 July 2020 |archive-date=3 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703010420/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/david-starkey-racist-slavery-genocide-reasoned-darren-grimes-a9598296.html |url-status=live }} and the Historical Association announced on Twitter that it would withdraw the Medlicott Medal it had awarded him 20 years previously.{{Cite tweet |user=histassoc |number=1279000150153867268 |date= 3 July 2020 |title=The HA's ethos on diversity and inclusion is clear - we will not tolerate those who promote ideologies which seek to exclude or denigrate specific groups of people. We have therefore decided to withdraw the honour of the Medlicott Medal given to Dr David Starkey 20 yrs ago}} Fitzwilliam College of Cambridge University distanced themselves from his comments and later accepted his resignation as an honorary fellow on 3 July 2020.{{Cite web|title=Statement on Dr David Starkey|url=https://www.fitz.cam.ac.uk/news/statement-dr-david-starkey|access-date=2020-07-02|date=2 July 2020|website=Fitzwilliam College|archive-date=2 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702174344/https://www.fitz.cam.ac.uk/news/statement-dr-david-starkey|url-status=live}}{{cite web |title=Update on Dr David Starkey |url=https://www.fitz.cam.ac.uk/news/update-dr-david-starkey |website=Fitzwilliam College |date=3 July 2020 |language=en |access-date=2020-07-04 |archive-date=7 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200707235917/https://www.fitz.cam.ac.uk/news/update-dr-david-starkey |url-status=live }} Canterbury Christ Church University, where Starkey had been a visiting professor, removed him from that role in response to his "completely unacceptable" remarks.{{cite news |author= |title=David Starkey dumped by university over 'so many damn blacks' comment |url=https://news.sky.com/story/david-starkeys-so-many-damn-blacks-comment-is-indefensible-12020107 |work=SkyNews |date=3 July 2020 |access-date=3 July 2020 |archive-date=3 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703093407/https://news.sky.com/story/david-starkeys-so-many-damn-blacks-comment-is-indefensible-12020107 |url-status=live }} The magazine History Today also removed him from their editorial board.{{Cite tweet |user=HistoryToday |number=1278729702161743874 |date= 2 July 2020 |title=David Starkey is no longer a member of the History Today editorial advisory board. – Andy Patterson, Publisher.}} Lancaster University revoked Starkey's honorary degree after an investigation found that his comments were "racist and contradictory to the values of the University".{{Cite web|title=Dr David Starkey's Honorary Degree to be revoked|url=https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/dr-david-starkeys-honorary-degree-to-be-revoked-1|access-date=2020-08-16|website=www.lancaster.ac.uk|language=en|archive-date=3 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803014903/https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/dr-david-starkeys-honorary-degree-to-be-revoked-1|url-status=live}} The University of Kent launched a formal review of his honorary graduate status.{{cite web|first=Gary |last=Hughes|date=3 July 2020|access-date=2020-07-04|title=Statement on Dr David Starkey - University of Kent|url=https://www.kent.ac.uk/news/kentlife/25968/statement-on-dr-david-starkey|website=The University of Kent|archive-date=3 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703104442/https://www.kent.ac.uk/news/kentlife/25968/statement-on-dr-david-starkey|url-status=live}} HarperCollins terminated its book deal with Starkey and his previous publisher, Hodder & Stoughton, has also said that they "will not be publishing any further books by him".{{Cite news|last1=Flood|first1=Alison|last2=agencies|date=2020-07-03|title=David Starkey dropped by publisher and university after racist remarks|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/jul/03/david-starkey-dropped-publisher-racist-remarks-harpercollins|access-date=2020-07-03|issn=0261-3077|archive-date=3 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703144156/https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/jul/03/david-starkey-dropped-publisher-racist-remarks-harpercollins|url-status=live}} Vintage Books announced it would be reviewing the status of books by Starkey in their back catalogue.[https://twitter.com/vintagebooks/status/1279077705724690433 Vintage Books] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703161505/https://twitter.com/vintagebooks/status/1279077705724690433 |date=3 July 2020 }} on Twitter. Also on 3 July 2020, at a meeting of the Royal Historical Society, the society's council resolved that Starkey should be asked to resign his fellowship with immediate effect.{{Cite web|url=https://royalhistsoc.org/rhs-statement-on-council-resolution/|title=RHS Statement on Council Resolution | RHS|website=royalhistsoc.org|date=3 July 2020|access-date=4 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805165318/https://royalhistsoc.org/rhs-statement-on-council-resolution/ |archive-date=5 August 2020 |url-status=dead}} On 6 July 2020, Starkey resigned his fellowship of the Society of Antiquaries of London at the request of its council.{{Cite web|date=2020-07-06|title=Resignation of Dr David Starkey|url=https://www.sal.org.uk/2020/07/resignation-of-dr-david-starkey/|access-date=2020-07-06|website=Society of Antiquaries of London|language=en-GB|archive-date=6 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706143424/https://www.sal.org.uk/2020/07/resignation-of-dr-david-starkey/|url-status=live}}

On 25{{nbsp}}September 2020, the Metropolitan Police opened an investigation into the interview over an allegation of a public order offence. In October, Starkey was investigated by the police for "stirring up racial hatred" through the comments he made in the podcast with Darren Grimes. In regard to the allegations, Starkey said that he did not "intend to stir up racial hatred and there was nothing about the circumstances of the broadcast which made it likely to do so" and also that the investigation by the police was "neither proportionate nor in the best interests of preserving proper freedom of expression".{{cite news |last1=Campbell |first1=Lucy |title=Police investigate David Starkey over slavery remarks to Darren Grimes |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/oct/13/police-investigate-david-starkey-over-slavery-remarks-to-daren-grimes |access-date=12 November 2022 |work=The Guardian |archive-date=12 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221112143035/https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/oct/13/police-investigate-david-starkey-over-slavery-remarks-to-daren-grimes |url-status=live }}

On 14{{nbsp}}October the police dropped their investigation saying that "it is no longer proportionate that this investigation continues".{{Cite web|last=Roach|first=April|date=2020-10-21|title=Police investigation into David Starkey interview dropped|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/david-starkey-interview-police-investigation-dropped-a4572477.html|access-date=2020-11-06|website=www.standard.co.uk|language=en|archive-date=1 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101192258/https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/david-starkey-interview-police-investigation-dropped-a4572477.html|url-status=live}} This followed a free speech backlash from several major UK politicians such as then Home Secretary Priti Patel who said the law should protect freedom of speech as a "general principle" which should not be violated.{{Cite news|last=Southworth|first=Phoebe|date=10 October 2020|title=Darren Grimes: Home Secretary says law should protect freedom of speech|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/10/darren-grimes-met-polices-investigation-commentators-interview/|access-date=31 October 2020|website=The Telegraph|archive-date=15 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201015151558/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/10/darren-grimes-met-polices-investigation-commentators-interview/|url-status=live}}{{Cite news |first1=Hayley |last1=Dixon |first2=Camilla |last2=Tominey |date=13 October 2020|title=David Starkey investigated by police for 'stirring up racial hatred' in Darren Grimes interview|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/13/david-starkey-investigated-police-stirring-racial-hatred-interview/ |url-access=subscription | access-date=31 October 2020|website=The Telegraph|archive-date=1 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101045533/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/13/david-starkey-investigated-police-stirring-racial-hatred-interview/|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|last=Hamilton|first=Fiona|date=11 October 2020|title=Prosecutor criticises 'sinister' Met for investigating Darren Grimes over interview|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/darren-grimes-david-starkey-police-c69gf98f0 |url-access=subscription |access-date=1 November 2020|website=The Times|archive-date=25 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025113944/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/darren-grimes-david-starkey-police-c69gf98f0|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|last=Hymas|first=Charles|date=4 November 2020|title=Priti Patel rebukes police over Darren Grimes 'race hate' investigation|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/11/04/priti-patel-rebukes-police-darren-grimes-race-hate-investigation/|access-date=6 November 2020|website=The Telegraph|archive-date=5 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201105072504/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/11/04/priti-patel-rebukes-police-darren-grimes-race-hate-investigation/|url-status=live}} Following the news of the ending of the investigation, Starkey said: "The investigation should never of course have begun. From the beginning it was misconceived, oppressive and designed to misuse the criminal law to curtail the proper freedom of expression and debate{{nbsp}}... freedom is our birthright; and it is more important than ever at this critical juncture in our nation's history."{{Cite web|date=21 October 2020|title=David Starkey: Police end investigation into interview with Darren Grimes|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-54631658|access-date=31 October 2020|website=BBC|archive-date=31 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031235005/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-54631658|url-status=live}}

Grimes and Starkey subsequently launched a formal complaint against the Metropolitan Police accusing them of being biased against them and acting in "deference" to the Black Lives Matter movement.{{Cite news|last=Dixon|first=Hayley|date=26 October 2020|title=Darren Grimes and David Starkey bring formal complaint against Metropolitan Police|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/26/darren-grimes-david-starkey-bring-formal-complaint-against-metropolitan/|access-date=31 October 2020|website=The Telegraph|archive-date=30 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030041345/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/26/darren-grimes-david-starkey-bring-formal-complaint-against-metropolitan/|url-status=live}}

In May 2023 at the National Conservatism Conference, organised by the Edmund Burke Foundation,{{cite web |title=David Starkey |url=https://nationalconservatism.org/natcon-uk-2023/presenters/david-starkey/ |website=National Conservatism Conference, UK 2023 |access-date=17 May 2023 |language=en}} Starkey said that "white culture" is under threat from the Black Lives Matter movement and proponents of critical race theory who are "not what they pretend to be" and who he described are attempting to destroy "the entire legitimacy of the Western cultural tradition". He stated that said conservatives had to defend the "uniqueness of the Anglo-American tradition" against "barbarians".{{cite news |last1=Simons |first1=Ned |title=David Starkey Tells National Conservatism Conference 'White Culture' Is Under Threat |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/david-starkey-national-conservatism-conference-white-culture-is-under-threat_uk_64648da4e4b056fd46d66af4 |access-date=17 May 2023 |work=HuffPost UK |date=17 May 2023 |language=en}}

He disputed the "idea that they are there to defend black lives" as "preposterous", saying that "they only care about the symbolic destruction of white culture" that they see as "fundamentally morally defective", comparing it to "exactly what was done to German culture because of Nazism and the Holocaust".{{cite news |last1=Duggan |first1=Joe |title=David Starkey sparks fury by claiming left-wing activists are 'jealous' of the Holocaust |url=https://inews.co.uk/news/david-starkey-left-wing-activists-replace-holocaust-slavery-2346130 |access-date=17 May 2023 |work=i |date=17 May 2023 |language=en}}

Starkey commented that "the determination is to replace the Holocaust with slavery" and "this is why Jews are under such attack from the left", because "there is jealousy of the moral primacy of the Holocaust and a determination to replace it with slavery".{{cite news |last1=McKeon |first1=Christopher |title=Left-wing wants to replace Holocaust with Black Lives Matter, says David Starkey |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/david-starkey-black-lives-matter-scots-jews-london-b2340469.html |access-date=17 May 2023 |work=The Independent |date=17 May 2023 |language=en}}

Starkey lived for many years with his partner, James Brown, a publisher and book designer, until the latter's death in 2015.{{Cite news | last = Tran | first = Mark | title = David Starkey's partner James Brown dies | url = https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/nov/05/david-starkeys-partner-james-brown-dies | publisher = theguardian.com | date = 5 November 2015 | access-date = 5 November 2015 | archive-date = 6 November 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151106034749/http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/nov/05/david-starkeys-partner-james-brown-dies | url-status = live }} The couple had three homes: a house in Highbury, a manor house in Kent, and another in Chestertown, Maryland, US. Starkey previously lived at John Spencer Square in Canonbury, Islington.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry|title=Land Registry|access-date=23 September 2019|archive-date=23 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190923025037/https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry|url-status=live}}

Starkey was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2007 Birthday Honours for services to history.{{London Gazette |issue=58358 |date=16 June 2007 |page=8 |supp=y}}

• {{cite book |isbn=978-0584111286 |publisher=Muller Blond and White for Channel 4 |title=This Land of England |date=1985 |first1=David |last1=Souden |first2=David |last2=Starkey }}
• {{cite book |publisher=Franklin Watts |location=New York |isbn=9780531150146| last=Starkey |first=David |title=The Reign of Henry VIII: Personalities and Politics |date=1986|url=https://archive.org/details/reignofhenryviii0000star_h2r4}}
• {{cite book |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0198730644 |title=Revolution Reassessed: Revisions in the History of Tudor Government and Administration |date=1986 |editor1-first=Christopher |editor1-last=Coleman |editor2-first=David |editor2-last=Starkey }}
• {{cite book |publisher=Longman |isbn=978-0582013599 |title=The English Court from the Wars of the Roses to the Civil War |date=1987 |location=Harlow |editor-first=David |editor-last=Starkey }}
• {{cite book |isbn=9780333514528 |publisher=Macmillan |location=London |last=Starkey |first=David |title=Rivals in Power: the Lives and Letters of the Great Tudor Dynasties |date=1990 }}
• {{cite book |editor-link=David Starkey |editor-first=David |editor-last=Starkey |title=Henry VIII: A European Court in England |location=London |date=1991 |isbn=978-1558592414 |publisher=Abbeville Press }}
• {{cite book|series=The Inventory of Henry VIII |title=The Transcript |date=1998 |volume=1 | editor1-first=Philip |editor1-last=Ward |editor2-first=Alistair |editor2-last=Hawkyard |editor3-last=Starkey |editor3-first=David |publisher=Harvey Miller for The Society of Antiquaries of London |location=London |isbn=1-872501-89-3 }}
• {{cite book |series=The Inventory of Henry VIII |title=Textiles and Dress |publisher=Harvey Miller for The Society of Antiquaries of London |location=London |isbn=978-1872501949 |volume=2 |date=1998 | editor1-first=Philip |editor1-last=Ward |editor2-first=Alistair |editor2-last=Hawkyard |editor3-last=Starkey |editor3-first=David }}
• {{cite book |title=Elizabeth: Apprenticeship |date=2000 |location=London |publisher=Chatto and Windus |first=David |last=Starkey |isbn=9780701169398 }} (published in North America as Elizabeth: The struggle for the throne)
• {{cite book |title=The Stuart Courts |isbn=9780752452067 |publisher=The History Press |location=Cheltenham |others=Foreword by David Starkey |date=2000 |editor-first=Eveline |editor-last=Cruickshanks |editor-link=Eveline Cruickshanks }}
• {{cite book |series=The Inventory of Henry VIII |title=Essays and Illustrations |volume=3 |date=2002 | editor1-first=Philip |editor1-last=Ward |editor2-first=Alistair |editor2-last=Hawkyard |editor3-last=Starkey |editor3-first=David |isbn=978-1872501994 |publisher=Harvey Miller for The Society of Antiquaries of London |location=London }}
• {{cite book |publisher=Chatto and Windus |location=London |title=Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII |date=2003 |isbn=0701172983 |last=Starkey |first=David }}
• {{cite book |title=Elizabeth I: The Exhibition Catalogue |date=2003 |isbn=978-0701174767 |editor-last=Doran |editor-first=Susan |others=Curated by David Starkey |publisher=Chatto and Windus |location=London |editor-link=Susan Doran }}
• {{cite book |publisher=The British Library |location=London |title=The Books of King Henry VIII and His Wives |others=Introduction and Preface by David Starkey |date=2004 |first=James P |last=Carley |author-link=James Carley |isbn=978-0712347914 }}
• {{cite book |isbn=978-0701176785 |publisher=Chatto and Windus |location=London |series=The Monarchy of England |volume=1 |title=The Beginnings |date=2004 |first=David |last=Starkey }}
• {{cite book |isbn=978-0007247509 |title=Monarchy: From the Middle Ages to Modernity |date=2006 |publisher=Harper Press |location=London |last=Starkey |first=David }}
• {{cite book |isbn=978-1905711048 |publisher=Royal Academy of Arts |location=London |title=Making History: Antiquaries in Britain, 1707–2007 |others=Introduction by David Starkey |date=2007 |editor1-first=Sarah |editor1-last=McCarthy |editor2-first=Bernard |editor2-last=Nurse |editor3-first=David |editor3-last=Gaimster |editor-link3=David Gaimster}}
• {{cite book |isbn=9780007247714 |publisher=Harper Press |location=London |last=Starkey |first=David |title=Henry: Virtuous Prince |date=2008 }}
• {{cite book |isbn=978-0-7123-5025-9 |others=Introduction by David Starkey |title=Henry VIII; Man & Monarch |editor-first=Susan |editor-last=Doran |publisher=The British Library |location=London |date=2009 }}
• {{cite book |isbn=9780007307708 |last=Starky |first=David |title=Crown and Country: A History of England through the Monarchy |publisher=Harper Press |location=London |date=2010 }} (A compilation of The Monarchy of England: The Beginnings, Monarchy: From the Middle Ages to Modernity and some new material)
• {{cite book |isbn=9780297860716 |publisher=W & N |location=London |others=Introduction by David Starkey |title=Fatal Colours: Towton 1461 – England's Most Brutal Battle |first=George |last=Goodwin |date=2011 }}
• {{cite book |isbn=978-1849905862 |title=Music and Monarchy: A History of Britain in Four Movements |date=2013 |author1-first=David |author1-last=Starkey |author2-first=Katie |publisher=BBC Books |location=London |author2-last=Greening }}
• {{cite book |first=David |last =Starkey |title=Magna Carta: The True Story Behind the Charter |isbn=978-1473610057 |date=2015 |publisher=Hodder and Stoughton |location=London }}
• {{cite book |isbn=9780007288700 |publisher=Harper Collins |location=London |first=David |last=Starkey |title=Henry: Model of a Tyrant |date=2020 }}

• Henry VIII (1998, revised 2001)
• Elizabeth (2000)
• The Six Wives of Henry VIII (2001)
• Edward and Mary: The Unknown Tudors (2002)
• David Starkey: Reinventing the Royals (2002)
• Monarchy by David Starkey (2004–2007)
• Henry VIII: The Mind of a Tyrant (2009)
• Kate and William: Romance and the Royals (2011)
• Jamie's Dream School (2011)
• The Churchills (2012)
• David Starkey's Music and Monarchy (2013)
• Britain's Tudor Treasure: A Night at Hampton Court, co-presented with Lucy Worsley (2015)
• David Starkey's Magna Carta (2015)
• Reformation: Europe's Holy War (2017)

• Kings and Queens by David Starkey for iPhone and iPad (2011)

;Footnotes

{{reflist|group="nb"}}

;Notes

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{Cite news | author =Billen, Andrew| title =The lure of David Starkey| publisher = The Sunday Times| date =20 September 2007| url = https://www.thetimes.com/article/the-lure-of-david-starkey-nlvdm8kzx3k| access-date =28 September 2007|ref=none}}

{{Commonscatinline}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150530022455/http://www.debretts.com/people-of-today/profile/17581/David-STARKEY "Dr David Starkey, CBE, FSA Authorised Biography", Debrett's People of Today]
• {{IMDb name|0823313}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Starkey, David}}

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