UK Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer has become prime minister of UK after a ceremonial meeting with King Charles III on July 5, 2024.
Starmer has led Labour to secure a landslide victory in the UK’s 2024 general election to end 14 years of Conservative rule.
“Change begins now,” Starmer said in his victory speech, as he thanked the “voters have spoken and they are ready for change”.
What to know about UK elections 2024
- UK’s Labour Party has swept to power in a historic win.
- Labour leader Keir Starmer will become UK’s new prime minister
- British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the British people have “delivered a sobering verdict,” and conceded that the Labour Party has won the election.
- Nigel Farage, the leader of the hard-right Reform UK party, won a seat after seven failed election attempts. Jeremy Corbyn held onto his seat in north London but as an independent.
- Former Prime Minister Liz Truss and other senior Conservatives lose seats.
With almost all the results in, the center-left Labour had won 410 seats in the 650-seat House of Commons and the Conservatives 118.
High-profile conservatives ousted in election
Conservatives, the western world’s most successful party, lost about 250 lawmakers in the elctions.
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss, who served for just 49 days, lost her Norfolk South West seat to Labour by a narrow margin. Several other senior Conservative lawmakers, including House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, education secretary Gillian Keegan, and former business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg, also lost their seats in the election.
Conservatives suffered the worst performance in the party’s long history as voters punished them for a cost of living crisis, failing public services, and a series of scandals.
Labour Party returns to power after 14 years
Labour Party’s victory ends 14 years of Conservative rule. Keir Starmer who led the party to a landslide election victory will become prime minister, becoming the first Labour leader to win a U.K. national election since Tony Blair, who secured three consecutive victories starting in 1997.
Like Blair, who refashioned the party as “New Labour” in the 1990s, 61-year-old Starmer led Labour to victory over Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party in Thursday’s election by steering the party towards the political middle ground.
Starmer pledges to stabilize UK
Keir Starmer vowed to rebuild Britain as its next prime minister after his Labour Party recorded a landslide victory in a parliamentary election, ending 14 years of often tumultuous Conservative government.
“We did it,” Starmer said in a victory speech. “Change begins now … We said we would end the chaos, and we will, we said we would turn the page, and we have. Today, we start the next chapter, begin the work of change, the mission of national renewal and start to rebuild our country.”
Starmer said his government will always put “country first, party second” adding that a “mandate like this comes with great responsibility.” He said that his government will be focused on “national renewal.”
“We have to return politics to public service,” he said. Starmer is expected to visit King Charles III later today to seek the monarch’s approval to form a new government.
Sunak accepts defeat and leaves 10 Downing Street
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak acknowledged the Labour Party’s election victory, stating the British people have “delivered a sobering verdict.”
Sunak, who held onto his seat in North Yorkshire, said: “I take responsibility for the loss.”
“To the many good, hard-working Conservative candidates who lost tonight, despite their tireless efforts, their local records and delivery, and their dedication to their communities. I am sorry.” Sunak also mentioned he has called Labour leader Keir Starmer to congratulate him on his victory.
Congratulations pour in
Australian and New Zealand leaders have congratulated Labour Party leader Keir Starmer on his election victory.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed his eagerness to work “constructively” with the new British government in a social media post on X.
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon also congratulated Starmer on X, emphasizing the strong friendship between the two nations and the potential for greater collaboration Luxon also thanked outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for his service and friendship to New Zealand.
Who is Keir Starmer?
Starmer has been a politician for only nine years, and since being crowned UK Labour leader in 2020 has steered his party from its worst election defeat in almost a century to landslide victory during the July 4 elections.
Starmer, 61, takes the country’s top job from Rishi Sunak. Human rights lawyer-turned-politician Starmer was born in 1962 in London, England, to a father who worked as a toolmaker and a mother who worked as a nurse. Starmer was the first in his family to go to university, studying law at the University of Leeds. After postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford, Starmer began working as a barrister.
He was knighted for his role leading the Crown Prosecution Service, and Conservative opponents like to use his title, Sir Keir Starmer, to paint him as elite and out of touch.
He entered politics in his 50s and was elected to Parliament in 2015. He said he wanted to stay and fight to change Labour, arguing that “leaders are temporary, but political parties are permanent.” Starmer imposed discipline on a party with a well-earned reputation for internal division and promised “a culture change in the Labour Party.” His mantra is now “country before party.”