How Keir Starmer's uncle went from navy man to feared magistrate

As Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer can expect to be invited to the occasional VIP event at the Tower of London. 

And when he next goes, I hope he finds time to drop in at the headquarters of the resident army unit, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. For there, he will find a tribute to HMS Antelope, the ship in which his late uncle, Petty Officer Roger Baker, served in the ­Falklands War.

The Type 21 frigate now lies for eternity on the seabed of San Carlos Water. And so, too, might Uncle Roger had he not abandoned ship on May 23, 1982, along with the rest of the crew. 

Moments later, she was blown apart in a colossal explosion which became one of the enduring images of the Falklands War.

Days later, Royal Navy divers retrieved two deckplates bearing the ship's name and sent one of them to Antelope's ­affiliated regiment, the Fusiliers, at their home in the Tower. There, it was installed in the doorway. It means that, to this day, you cannot enter without setting foot on HMS Antelope – a ship with a noble story.

Like the families of all those who served in the Falklands, Sir Keir is rightly proud of what his uncle did in the Spring of 1982. 

And so he had a ready response to the Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Ed Davey, during this week's Prime Minister's Questions when he was asked about the future of the Falklands. 

Given Labour's feeble surrender of British ­sovereignty over the Chagos Islands the previous week, it remains a concern.

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'My uncle nearly lost his life when his ship was torpedoed defending the ­Falklands,' Sir Keir replied. 'They are British, and they will remain British. I have been very clear about the Falklands. It is personal to me.'

Uncle Roger was the younger brother of Sir Keir's late mother, Josephine, and died in 2016, one year after his sister, at 67. 

Sir Keir has once or twice told of how his mother was glued to the radio, ­listening for news of her brother. But I am surprised that we have not heard him mentioned more often.

For Uncle Roger not only ended up as part of the judiciary – like his nephew, Keir, a former head of the Crown Prosecution Service – but he was, palpably, a good egg, whatever your politics.

He dodged a watery grave in the South Atlantic, returned to the UK but was back in Falklands waters again within months. 

After a long career in the Royal Navy, Uncle Roger then became a pillar of Plymouth community, liked by all, except the local ­criminal elements.

In addition to working for security at Plymouth's Drake Circus shopping centre, he also served as a magistrate. One local remembers him as a 'robust' ­justice of the peace, rather than a bleeding heart liberal. Another recalls he was a uniting force, organising social events and ­dinners for magistrates.

Roger Baker was also a ­stalwart at annual reunions for the crew of Antelope. 'We all enjoyed ­Roger's company enormously,' his former commanding officer, Nick Tobin, tells me. 'He was a very good petty officer and a great character.'

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Captain Tobin recalls that Mr Baker often brought his wife, Cecilia, known as 'Ce', and son, Derek, along. 'Everyone liked seeing them. We had no idea that Keir Starmer was his nephew.'

Like other veterans, he gently points out that Antelope was not actually 'torpedoed', as Sir Keir stated, but bombed by Argentine Air Force jets. But none are bothered about a technicality. They are pleased that their efforts have been recognised in Parliament.

Listening to Captain Tobin, and reading his fascinating private memoir, Forty Seven Days, it is easy to see why the crew of Antelope were such a close-knit band. One day they were undergoing sea trials off Portland in April 1982 and then, 30 hours later, they set sail for the Falklands.

Captain Tobin remembers his attempts to keep up ship's morale, even organising an Easter Egg hunt. At one point, he used the ship's helicopter to shoo away a killer whale interested in a ship's diver attaching straps to a supply crate dropped by an aircraft.

No sooner had they reached the South Atlantic than they were tasked with picking up a mixed crowd from newly-liberated South Georgia. They included members of the elite Argentinian special forces, one of whom was a suspected war criminal.

On May 23, Antelope was guarding supply ships in a stretch of water known as 'Bomb Alley'. 

'There wasn't a cloud in the sky,' recalls former Petty Officer John Ashdown, then 26, who remembers Roger Baker as a 'friendly, popular shipmate'. No one, however, was enjoying the sunshine. 'We'd have been happier with rain. Then the aircraft came in.'

Capt Tobin recalls how his crew let rip with everything from ­missiles to small arms as the first wave of enemy Skyhawks attacked – and missed.

On the second run, one of the planes burst into flames but not before dropping a bomb which hit the ship towards the stern above the engine room, killing 18-year-old steward, Mark Stephens, and wounding others. However, it did not explode. Nor did the bomb which cracked open the Petty Officers' mess in a third wave.

The bomb disposal team were faced with a choice of pushing two unstable 1,000lb bombs over the side or defusing them in situ. The experts decided the safest option was the latter.

To everyone's dismay, both bombs turned out to be British. 'They had been part of an export drive during the 1970s,' Capt Tobin reflects dryly.

However, as Staff Sergeant Jim Prescott was doing his best, the first bomb exploded, killing him and wounding Warrant Officer John Phillips. Both were later ­decorated (Capt Tobin received the Distinguished Service Cross).

Fires spread through the ship. Only when all the power, electrics and fire-fighting equipment had failed, did Capt Tobin issue the order to abandon ship.

Lifeboats and landing craft were on standby to get everyone off – the captain last. A few minutes later, the whole thing went up.

The skipper watched her burn through the night and then sink at dawn. 'Our fine ship had borne the brunt of air attacks on May 23,' he wrote. 'The miss-targeting by the Argentinians on warships rather than support vessels meant that these ships could discharge vital supplies, ultimately ensuring an Argentinian defeat.'

The crew were picked up by a commandeered North Sea ferry, the Norland, and put aboard the QE2 bound for home. Two of the ship's company immediately returned to the South Atlantic aboard HMS Amazon. One was Petty Officer Roger Baker.

Little wonder that Sir Keir Starmer felt moved to mention his uncle in the Commons this week. Let us hope he also remembers him, and his shipmates, when Argentina reaffirm claims on the Falklands with renewed post-­Chagos vigour, as they surely will in the months ahead.