Sunak drove to Buckingham Palace in his official armoured Jaguar to hand in his resignation. The meeting with Charles III was private and lasted 20 minutes, with many minutes in and out. Sunak will continue to serve as an MP and will remain leader of the Conservative Party for a time until a successor is chosen. There is a lot of anger at Sunak right now, but the party may act swiftly.
After Mr Sunak left, Mr Starmer and Duchess Victoria swiftly drove through the palace’s swing gates in another armoured Jaguar. In a non-kissing “hand kiss” ceremony, the Queen asked Mr Starmer to form a new government. Mr Starmer returned to 10 Downing Street, delivered a six-minute speech and then got down to business.
Mr Starmer’s Labour party won a landslide victory, just short of the number of votes Tony Blair received in 1997.
For the Conservatives, it felt like a shakeout as they suffered the worst defeat in the party’s modern history, with key ministers and Conservative “heavyweights” losing their seats, including former Prime Minister Liz Truss, who infamously lasted just 49 days in office after nearly bankrupting the economy with an unfunded tax cut programme.
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The vote counting took most of the night, but there was no unauthorized recount and no allegations of theft.
After it was all over, both combatants had good things to say about each other.
Mr Sunak called Mr Starmer a “man of integrity and public spirit” and praised his “hard work”.
After conceding defeat just before dawn, Mr Sunak told voters: “Power will be transferred peacefully, orderly and in good faith on both sides, which should give us all confidence in the stability and future of our country.”
During his farewell speech from 10 Downing Street, Mr Sunak was at his most cordial when he mentioned his family.
“One of the most remarkable things about Britain is how ordinary it is,” he said. “Just two generations after my grandparents came here with nothing, I can become prime minister and… watch my two little daughters light Diwali candles on the steps of Downing Street.”
Mr Sunak is the son of Punjabi Hindus who immigrated to Britain from East Africa. Diwali candles are lit during the Hindu festival of lights.
“We must remain true to our vision of what we are here for – kindness, decency and tolerance,” the former prime minister said.
Mr Starmer praised Mr Sunak’s “achievement as our first British Asian Prime Minister”. Mr Starmer, who has working-class roots and whose parents were a nurse and a toolmaker, spoke in a Downing Street speech about the need to create “security so working-class families like mine can make a living”.
There was something different about Starmer on Friday, something notable enough to warrant a few minutes on the BBC. That difference was that he was laughing.
He spent six weeks of the campaign looking glum, and even though the opinion polls seemed to guarantee his victory, Mr Starmer never lost character: he was a no-nonsense, sensible moderate who took nothing for granted and understood the country’s gloomy mood.
Speaking outside his new Downing Street home and office, Starmer promised that he and his government would “rebuild our country with calm and patience” with a “mission to revive the country.” The 61-year-old lawyer said “there is emotional exhaustion” and that people are fed up with empty promises and performative politics. “This wound, this lack of trust, can only be healed by actions, not words,” he said.
The new leader said his team would “quietly rebel against those who have abandoned our country.”
“Quiet rebellion” also sums up Starmer’s political career. Many people wrote off the Labour party, wrote off Starmer as a leader, and were wrong.
Starmer spent the afternoon making cabinet appointments, naming two women and one black man to serve with him in four “key national bodies”.
Rachel Reeves is the first woman to hold the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer, the equivalent of Minister for the Treasury. Reeves, 45, acknowledged the significance of her appointment on social media, writing: “To all the young girls and women reading this, today you show that there are no limits to your ambition.”
Reeves, a former Bank of England economist, told the BBC the coffers were empty. “We don’t have a ton of money,” he said. “I know the scale of the task I’ve inherited.”
David Lammy, a friend of President Barack Obama, has been appointed foreign secretary. The son of Guyanese immigrants, he considers himself “the first foreign secretary who can trace his lineage back to Africa through the transatlantic slave trade.”
Yvette Cooper becomes the new Home Secretary. Angela Rayner becomes Deputy First Minister.
One of the surprises of this election was that Nigel Farage, a friend of Donald Trump and populist subversive, finally won a seat after eight tries.
Farage is arguably one of Britain’s most influential politicians – he was one of the country’s leading campaigners for Brexit – but until now he has mainly remained on the sidelines and as a heckler from Brussels, where he serves as an anti-EU member of the European Parliament.
It was Farage’s turn to be heckled at his post-election press conference, with some protesters shouting “racist” before being removed by security. Reports of racism and sexism by Reform UK activists and candidates during the election raised concerns about deep-rooted prejudice within the party. On Friday, Farage said: “The few thugs who snuck in will be long gone and we will never see them back in the party.”
He vowed to professionalise his movement, which currently holds four seats in Parliament, and become the “opposition across the country” to put pressure on Labour.
Amid all the chaos, one civil servant remained on the job: Downing Street’s long-time resident cat, Larry, was spotted sheltering from the rain outside, essentially welcoming the sixth prime minister. The brown-and-white tabby, who holds the title of Cabinet Office chief mouser, is reportedly due to join Starmer’s cat, JoJo.
