Six lawyers who became world leaders

Keir Starmer is a "lawyer not a leader".

At least that is what Boris Johnson said, during a typically tense edition of PMQs this week in which he slammed the opposition leader for scrutinising him over Partygate.

His comments elicited cheers from the back benches but Labour & Co-operative MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle retorted: “I would prefer to be led by a lawyer, than a liar" and a version of that trended on social media showing Johnson's comments well and truly backfired.

Regardless, it is a bit of an odd line of attack considering a legal background is not unusual in politics - indeed many Tories are lawyers too,and it even has got them in trouble lately...

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With that in mind, here are some world leaders who once enjoyed legal careers:

Nelson Mandela

As well as studying law, Mandela founded a law firm, Mandela & Tambo with his friend, Oliver Tambo with a motive of providing affordable and easily accessible means for Black Africans to access justice. He also worked for a number of other law firms.

Barack Obama

Obama studied law at Harvard then worked in civil rights law. He also taught at the University of Chicago Law School before he went into politics and became the president of the United States of America.

Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton EPA

Clinton studied law at Yale where she met fellow law student and another famous politician you may have heard of, Bill Clinton. She then had a long career in law and in 1977, she also co-founded Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.

Tony Blair

Before becoming prime minister, Blair studied law at the University of Oxford then became a barrister. Later, he returned to law -symbolically at least - as in 2008 he was awarded an honorary doctorate in Law by Queen’s University for his role in the Northern Irish peace process.

Lawyer and leader then.

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham LincolnHulton/Archive/Getty Images

The United States' 16th president had a legal career spanning 25 years and had a license to practice law in all Illinois state courts.

Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi worked as a barrister in England, an advocate in India and an attorney in South Africa.

Johnson, on the other hand, is a politician who was once a journalist. Perish the thought.

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