Labour Leader Keir Starmer celebrates winning the 2024 general election with a speech at Tate Modern in London on Friday.
July 05, 2024
LONDON – Britain’s center-left Labour Party comfortably won a historic general election, partial results showed Friday, ousting the Conservative Party by a huge margin in a vote that means the staunch U.S. ally will get its sixth prime minister in eight politically turbulent years.
Labour’s leader Keir Starmer, 61, a former lawyer, took over as prime minister from Rishi Sunak, who ascended to the role in 2022. Britain elects a party, not a specific leader, to rule the country − of the past five Conservative prime ministers, only three were directly elected.
“Change begins now,” Starmer said in an address early Friday after Sunak conceded defeat.
Sunak described the outcome as a “sobering verdict.” Announcing he would resign as prime minister outside No. 10 Downing Street, he said “I have heard your anger, disappointment and I take responsibility for this loss.”
Starmer formally became prime minister Friday after being invited to form a government by King Charles in a ceremony known as the “kissing of the hands.”
Labour will replace a Conservative government whose reputation was deeply marred by Britain’s exit from the European Union, known as Brexit, and its failure to reduce record immigration levels and repair the nation’s aging infrastructure and beleaguered public services.
Meanwhile, Liz Truss, the shortest-serving prime minister in British history, lost her seat to a candidate representing the Labour Party, which has swept to power in the country’s general election, officials confirmed Friday.
Others to lose their seats included Penny Mordaunt, leader of the U.K. Parliament’s House of Commons, who was touted as among the favorites to replace Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should he step down as Conservative Party leader.
