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Sir Keir Starmer paid tribute to his bro Nick who died of cancer on Boxing Day aged 60.
The the prime minister said: “My brother Nick was a wonderful man. He bravely and cheerfully faced all the challenges life threw at him. We will miss him very much.
“I would like to thank everyone who treated and cared for Niko. Their skill and compassion are greatly appreciated.”
A spokesman for the prime minister said: “It is with great sadness that we announce this Nick Starmer passed away.
“Nick, 60, died peacefully on the afternoon of December 26 after a battle with cancer.
“We are asking for privacy for Nick’s extended family at this time.”
The Prime Minister was supposed to go on vacation with his family on Friday, but it is learned that he will now stay at home.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: “This is such terrible news. Especially devastating at Christmas time.
“My sincere condolences to Keir Starmer and all his family.”
Sir Keir has always been protective of his family’s privacy, particularly that of his children, but has spoken about Nick in interviews, as well as sharing details of his relationship with his siblings for a recent biography.
The Prime Minister is the middle child of four siblings: two sisters and a brother. His younger siblings, Katy and Nick, are twins, while he has one older sister, Anna. They all grew up together in a house of six with their parents.
“I shared a bunk bed with my brother in a room with an airing cupboard and enough space for a couple of small tables where we would do our homework,” said Sir Keir at Tom Baldwin’s Keir Starmer: A Biography.
His younger brother Nick had learning difficulties due to birth complications.
Sir Keir spoke for the first time about their relationship in a new biography: “We were a family of six so it didn’t feel lonely and I shared a room with him, but Nick didn’t have many friends and they called him. fat’ or ‘stupid’ by other children.
“Even now I try to avoid using words like that to describe anyone.”
His sister Katy said the pair got into a fight protecting Nick and Katy said she “must have hit a few people”.
Sir Keir said he admired Nick, who gained a technical qualification, “not despite his life taking a different path to mine, but because of it”. He recalled how his father Rodney and mother Jo had instilled in him the idea that people should be respected for what they had won.
“I remember my dad saying to me many, many times, ‘Nick has achieved as much as you, Keir,'” he said in the biography.
Sir Keir was best man at Nick’s wedding and described borrowing a car for the day so Nick wouldn’t be left “to drive his bride from church in his beat-up van, which had all his clothes in the back”.
On that chaotic day, Sir Keir revealed there was no reception planned before dashing off to Tesco to buy all the sandwiches available for a hastily arranged gathering in the garden of Nick’s cottage.
Sir Keir used Nick’s story as an example of the flaw in his own vision for those born into the working class to lead more comfortable lives than their parents.
Speaking about his brother’s experience, he said: “The whole thing is so heartbreaking… because Nick had a really tough life. So, that dream that mom and dad dreamed for us did not come true. I have this real, deep sadness for my brother and for them.”
Nick’s death comes as Sir Keir prepared for his first overseas holiday with his family since becoming Prime Minister. He spent Christmas with his family in Chequers.