Team Blitz India
BRITAIN’S Labour Party, after remaining in political wilderness for 14 years, handed a crushing defeat to the ruling Conservatives winning the July 4 General Election by a landslide. Led by Keir Starmer, the party secured 412 seats with outgoing PM Rishi Sunak’s party down to a dismal 121 in the 650-seat House of Commons.
UK’s smaller parties won just 17 pc of the seats but they managed to increase their vote-share from 2019, winning about 40 pc of the vote. The Green Party won a record four seats. The Eurosceptic, anti-immigrant Reform UK party won four seats, and its leader, Nigel Farage, won a seat after seven unsuccessful attempts. Farage was the de facto leader of the Brexit movement.
Following Labour’s resounding victory, King Charles II appointed Starmer as the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
‘Country-first’ stand
Standing outside the Prime Minister’s official residence, No. 10 Downing Street, with his wife Victoria, Starmer said his Government would put “country first, party second”. In a thinly-veiled reference to the five prime ministers the 14 years of Tory Government had seen, he said that Britain had an ability to steer itself to calmer waters but that depended on politicians, especially those favouring “stability and moderation”. Specifically mentioning “nurses, builders, drivers, carers”, Starmer said their lives had become more insecure. Labour’s manifesto has promised to strengthen workers’ rights in the first 100 days of the Government as part of its ‘new deal for working people’.
The new Prime Minister also made references to other manifesto themes in his speech: renewing Britain’s universal healthcare system, clean energy, border security and safer streets.
Rishi Sunak apology
Starmer’ new Cabinet appointments include Angela Rayner, Deputy Leader of Labour, who was named the Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Rachel Reeves, a former Bank of England staffer and MP, was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. David Lammy, a long-time MP from Tottenham, was appointed Foreign Secretary and John Healey, an MP from the Tony Blair era, was appointed Defence Secretary.
In Yorkshire, outgoing Prime Minister Sunak, who managed to retain his own Richmond seat, conceded and took responsibility for the results. “The Labour Party has won this General Election and I’ve caught Sir Kier Starmer to congratulate him on his victory,” he said. Later, as he left No. 10 Downing Street for the last time, Sunak apologised to his supporters and said he would step down from the post of party Leader. He asked the public to support Starmer and his family as they transition into No. 10. He also made a reference to his being the country’s first nonWhite British PM.
