Britain swings to the center-left in a historic U.K. election landslide

By Lauren Frayer, Fatima Al-Kassab

Updated Friday, July 5, 2024 • 5:22 PM EDT

LONDON — An earthquake in British politics.

With far-right parties ascendant in France and elsewhere in Europe, the United Kingdom has swung in the opposite direction. Official election results Friday showed a landslide victory for the country’s center-left Labour Party — its first victory in 19 years, since under the leadership of Tony Blair.

Incoming Prime Minister Keir Starmer hailed his win as historic, saying early Friday: “Change begins now.”

Later Friday, he gave his first speech outside the prime minister's residence at 10 Downing Street, saying, he will lead a “government of service” on a “mission of national renewal” and promised to "rebuild Britain."

Related Story: NPR

For the Conservatives — the party of Margaret Thatcher, Boris Johnson and outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak — it was the worst defeat in their party’s nearly 200-year history. Prominent lawmakers including former Prime Minister Liz Truss, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Penny Mordaunt lost their seats in Parliament. Sunak retained his seat but resigned Friday as Conservative Party leader, and apologized to the country.

“I am sorry. I have given this job my all but you have sent a clear signal, that the government of the United Kingdom must change,” Sunak told reporters as he and his wife left the prime minister’s residence at 10 Downing Street for the last time. “I have heard your anger, your disappointment and I take responsibility for this loss.”

After 14 years in power, the Conservatives were punished at the polls for all the tumult that occurred on their watch: Brexit, which most Britons now regret; Johnson’s partygate scandal, in which the then-prime minister threw parties while the country was under COVID-19 lockdown and then Johnson lied about them; and the disastrous 2022 budget of Johnson’s successor, Truss, which sent shockwaves through financial markets.

Britain now has more children in poverty than any other wealthy country, according to the United Nations. Without London, some estimate it is poorer than Mississippi, the poorest state in the U.S.

Greens and Nigel Farage's Reform UK also had a good night

Smaller parties also made gains in this election. The environmentalist Green Party had its most successful election night ever, winning a record four seats — up from one in the last parliamentary election in 2019. The centrist Liberal Democrats multiplied their representation in Parliament.

And the far-right, anti-immigrant Reform UK party will enter Parliament for the first time, with five seats — among them, one for its leader, Brexiteer Nigel Farage, who ran and lost seven times previously. Reporters earlier indicated the party had won four seats, but a fifth seat went to Reform following a recount.

In Scotland, the once-hegemonic Scottish National Party — which has lobbied for Scottish independence from Britain — was decimated, with Labour taking most of the SNP’s seats.

In Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K, the nationalist Sinn Fein party — which wants Northern Ireland to gain independence from Britain and join the Republic of Ireland to its south — won the most seats, becoming the region’s biggest party in the U.K. Parliament.

It wasn’t a full sweep for Labour, though. The party lost four former strongholds to independent, pro-Palestinian candidates,as anger over the war in Gaza led to some shock losses for the party in what was otherwise a triumphant night.

World leaders congratulate Starmer

Congratulations came pouring in Friday for Starmer.

President Biden spoke with the incoming prime minister Friday telling him he "looks forward to working closely" with him, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. She noted the "special relationship between our countries" and that Biden will welcome Starmer to Washington next week during the NATO leaders’ summit.

The leaders of Australia and New Zealand also congratulated the new prime minister.

China, meanwhile, had the following reaction: "China hopes to work with the U.K. to advance China-U.K. relations along the right track based on mutual respect and win-win cooperation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Friday.

Related Story: NPR

Starmer is already prime minister

Unlike the lame-duck period in the United States or elsewhere, after a general election in the U.K., the monarch invites the leader of the party that’s won the most seats in the House of Commons to become prime minister and form a government.

Labour Party leader Starmer, who is a knight, has already had his meeting with King Charles III and has formally become the U.K. prime minister.

He has since begun announcing his Cabinet, including naming Rachel Reeves as the first woman to be chancellor of the exchequer, which is like Britain's treasury secretary.

Transcript

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Today a new era of British politics began under a new prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer...

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PRIME MINISTER KEIR STARMER: I accepted an invitation from His Majesty the King to form the next government of this great nation.

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CHANG: ...A man who once called for the monarchy to be abolished. Well, today that man shook hands with King Charles, who gave his blessing for Starmer to form a government. While much of Europe, especially France, watches the rise of the far right, Britains have elected a center-left government in a landslide. But Starmer inherits a state that's been hobbled by austerity, infrastructure that's been neglected and the worst cost of living crisis since World War II. NPR's Lauren Frayer reports from London.

LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: In his first speech after moving into 10 Downing Street with his family, Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged...

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STARMER: But we will rebuild Britain.

FRAYER: He vowed to lead a government of service on a mission of national renewal and to win back people's trust after Brexit, which polls show most Britons now regret, and Boris Johnson, who threw illegal COVID lockdown parties, and the brief economic roller coaster of his successor, Liz Truss.

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STARMER: When the gap between the sacrifices made by people and the service they receive from politicians grows this big, it leads to a weariness in the heart of a nation.

FRAYER: Starmer's new Cabinet includes the U.K.'s first female finance minister, Rachel Reeves, a former junior chess champion, who describes herself as a devotee of Janet Yellen. Reeves has a reputation for ironclad fiscal restraint and told the BBC today, she'll have to manage expectations...

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RACHEL REEVES: There's not a huge amount of money there, and so what we need to do is unlock private sector investment, and that's why...

FRAYER: ...Because government coffers are nearly empty after 14 years of conservative austerity and, many voters say, mismanagement.

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RISHI SUNAK: To the country, I would like to say, first and foremost, I am sorry.

FRAYER: Upon leaving 10 Downing Street, the outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak issued a blanket apology without taking blame for anything specific. But he acknowledged that voters have been pretty angry.

POLLY TOYNBEE: People are very, very angry about almost everything.

FRAYER: Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee says this election was much more about anti-incumbency, kicking out the Tories, as the conservatives are also called...

TOYNBEE: There is an extraordinary sense in the air of people really, really wanting to punish this government.

FRAYER: ...Rather than about any true embrace of left-wing ideas, she says. But with the far right on the march in much of Europe, Britain could end up looking better in comparison. Tom Baldwin is Starmer's biographer.

TOM BALDWIN: Maybe Britain could be a haven for stability. We haven't been in recent years. We've lost lots of investment because of it, but it's possible that Britain could become a haven for investors fleeing more populist regimes elsewhere.

FRAYER: Including even from America, he says - this country does have its own far-right party, though, led by the rabble-rousing Brexiteer and Donald Trump's friend, Nigel Farage.

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NIGEL FARAGE: That's all right. There's still plenty of beer left in the pub, mate.

FRAYER: That's him responding to hecklers who interrupted his news conference today. Farage previously ran for Parliament seven times and lost, but he finally won a seat last night as leader of the anti-immigrant Reform U.K. Party, which was the choice of nearly 1 in 6 British voters. Britain has a winner-take-all system in each district, similar to America, so it takes a lot for a third-party candidate to enter Parliament. But that happened a lot in this election. The centrist liberal Democrats multiplied their seats. The environmentalist Greens had their best ever showing. Rory Stewart is a former Conservative MP and cabinet minister.

RORY STEWART: All these other parties are now emerging, but our electoral system doesn't recognize them. People begin to ask, does this system really reflect the way that Britain operates and thinks? And I would say this is an argument for us to change our electoral system, but the two big parties have no incentive to do that.

FRAYER: A conversation about electoral reform could come out of this election. So could one about regional independence - the Scottish nationalists were obliterated, but Irish nationalists made big gains, possibly indicating a shift from a separatist push in Scotland to one in Northern Ireland. Those are all things Starmer may have to deal with. For now, though, he's celebrating his huge mandate on his first night in Downing Street. Lauren Frayer, NPR News, London.