Keir Starmer's character remains as elusive as his policies

The camera phone shot of U.K. Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria Starmer at a Taylor Swift concert in London has rightly been described by his allies as the "standout moment" of his election campaign. No longer the stiff lawyer in a suit, Starmer seemed to have shed years in a tender pose circulated widely on social media.

For the first and perhaps only time, Starmer looked like the winsome heir to former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, Labour's photogenic three-times election winner.

Pictures of the current Labour leader in a soccer kit tackling opponents have also been doing the rounds — possibly to generate a more macho vibe. Starmer has let it be known that he will continue to play five-a-side every week if he is elected prime minister on Thursday. The message is that, as a still-vigorous 61-year-old married to a National Health Service employee, he is the man of the hour — soccer, aka "football," and the NHS being the United Kingdom's joint national religions.