Shortly after the 17-year-old held the Sid Waddell Trophy aloft inside Alexandra Palace, the Labour leader took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to send a message to darts’ biggest superstar.
“Mesmerising performance from @LukeTheNuke180 to win the World Darts Championship,” Starmer wrote. “Congratulations Luke on being the youngest ever PDC World Darts Champion. An inspirational performance under such pressure to lift the trophy.
“You should be really proud of what you’ve achieved tonight, not just for yourself but for the sport of darts as a whole.”
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Only a year ago, the in-power Conservative Party were being criticised at the darts. Jamie Stone, the Lib Dems’ sports and culture spokesman, accused the Tories of “snobbery” by failing to send a minister to cheer on the sport’s newest star as he reached the quarter-finals.
“Darts is far more embedded in British culture than Conservative ministers realise,” he said. “Ministers should stop showing snobbery towards a sport which has grabbed the country’s attention.
“These world championships will go down in British sporting history. A minister must attend the final and see for themselves. As someone who regularly tries and fails going for 180, I would be happy to take the minister’s place.”
12 months on, Starmer has moved to avoid any such heat by congratulating Littler at the earliest opportunity, with the new world champion set on capitalising on his success by enjoying a big 2025.
When asked what could happen in the coming year by Sky Sports, he replied: “Anything! I could end 2025 winning absolutely nothing but I picked up the best [trophy]
“I want to get more than 10 titles this year but if I end 2025 with nothing, I’ve picked the big one up.”