Sir Keir Starmer becomes first PM to take HIV test

He has urged other leaders to follow in his footsteps

Starmer became the first G20 leader to publicly take a HIV test.

The Prime Minister took the rapid detection test in front of cameras at Downing Street to demonstrate the ease of finding out your status at home ahead of the Terrence Higgins Trust’s HIV Testing Week.

Speaking to Metro immediately after, the Prime Minister said he was 'genuinely surprised that it hasn’t been done before' by any previous prime minister.

He said: "I suppose my task now is to talk to prime ministers and leaders across the world and say, you too should do it in your own country.

"And I think beyond that, within the UK, to persuade people within their own communities to do the test, and tell other people they’ve done the test, because we’ve got to reach right into communities."

Terrence Higgins Trust chief executive Richard Angell and singer Beverley Knight, an ambassador for the charity, sat beside the PM in front of the fireplace in the grand Terracotta Room for the test.

Sir Keir pricked his finger with a small lancet from the rapid detection kit and added a drop of blood to a miniature bottle before shaking it and pouring it onto a testing device.

After pouring two more liquids on the device, there was a short wait until the result came back negative.

He spoke about why he decided to do the test publicly saying: "We know there are a number of people we’ve got HIV today who don’t know they’ve got it.

"It could be up to just under 5000 and it’s really important we find those cases. That’s why you’ve got National Testing Week."

Throughout National Testing Week, anyone in England can get a kit delivered to their door for free simply by ordering online.

Spreading the news about the simplicity of the process could be key to shaking the stigma that leads people to think they would rather not find out their status – a stigma that dates back to the early days of the epidemic in the 1980s, Sir Keir said.

He told Metro: "When I remember and I’m reminded about that, it does tell me how far we’ve come now – so far – but some of that is important.

"One, to remember just how devastating it was, and two, to understand the mindset that is still, for many people, locked in – which is, it’s better not to know because it was so devastating."

When they were elected last year, Labour committed to a target of ending new HIV cases by 2030, with an action plan on how they will achieve this set to launch in July this year.

Richard Angell, the head of the Terrence Higgins Trust, said that objective was ‘possible but not probable’, but added: "It’s great to have a government as a partner in making that try to make that vision a reality."

Mr Angell said Sir Keir Starmer's decision to become one of the first world leaders to publicly take the test as ‘pretty remarkable’.