Keir Starmer becomes UK PM

London: Keir Starmer became UK's new prime minister on Friday and vowed to rebuild Britain, hours after his Labour Party secured a landslide victory in a general election in which the weary voters inflicted a "sobering verdict" on Rishi Sunak-led Conservatives, who suffered their worst electoral drubbing.

Starmer, 61, assumed charge as the 58th prime minister after his customary audience with King Charles III at Buckingham Palace, following Sunak's meeting with the British monarch. The Labour Party secured 412 seats in the 650-member House of Commons, up 211 from the last election in 2019. Sunak's Conservatives won just 121 seats, down 250 seats from the previous election. 

While the Labour had a vote share of 33.7 per cent the Conservatives had 23.7 per cent.

“Our country has voted decisively for change, for national renewal and a return of politics for public service,” said Starmer in his inaugural address from a lectern outside 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the British prime minister.

As leader of a new Labour Party-led government, Starmer said that the work ahead is “urgent and we begin it today”. However, he said this would not be as simple as “flicking a switch”. “When the gap between the sacrifices made by people and the service they receive from politicians grows this big, it leads to the weariness in the heart of a nation, a draining away of the hope, the spirit, the belief in a better future. But we need to move forward together,” he said. The incoming Prime Minister also had warm words for his 44-year-old predecessor, Sunak, who he praised for an added accomplishment. “His achievement as the first British Asian prime minister of our country, the extra effort that will have required should not be underestimated by anyone. We pay tribute to that today and recognise that dedication and hard work he brought to his leadership,” he said.

While many of his Cabinet colleagues were defeated in the election held on Thursday, Sunak, the country’s first British Indian prime minister comfortably held on to his own Richmond and Northallerton seat in northern England with 23,059 votes. The Conservatives were in power for 14 years and the party suffered its worst election defeat in history losing 250 MPs in Thursday’s general election. A sombre-looking Sunak was joined by his wife Akshata Murty as his future as a member of Parliament was decided and chose to use his acceptance speech to also admit his party’s defeat in winning another term in government.