The center-left Labour Party won Thursday’s U.K. general election, ending the Conservative Party’s 14-year rule in Britain.
Labour leader Keir Starmer is now set to become the country’s new prime minister. He will soon be invited to Buckingham Palace by King Charles and asked to form a new government.
“Election victories don’t fall from the sky, they’re hard won and hard fought for, and this one could only be won by a changed Labour Party,” Starmer said in a speech early Friday.
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The result confirms the polls projecting Labour would win a majority as voters turned their backs on the center-right Conservatives, who had one of their weakest showings in years.
Outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hoped to reverse his party’s fortunes by calling an early summer election. He seemed to think that his party would benefit from inflation cooling off and voters feeling more optimistic during the summer months, among other things.
Sunak conceded early Friday morning, saying power had changed hands “in a peaceful and orderly manner with goodwill on all sides.”
“The Labour Party has won this general election, and I have called Sir Keir Starmer to congratulate him on his victory,” he said. “I will now head down to London, where I will say more about tonight’s result, before I leave the job as prime minister, to which I have given my all.”
However, a series of campaign blunders, including his decision to leave D-Day celebrations in France early to take part in an ITV interview and members of his party being investigated for taking part in a betting scandal about the date of the election, only hurt his standing further.
Nigel Farage’s decision, an ally of former President Donald Trump, to stand in the election as a candidate and take over the leadership of the populist right…
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