'Work of change begins immediately': Keir Starmer appointed UK PM after Labour's landslide election win

LONDON: Britain's head of state King Charles III officially appointed Labour leader Keir Starmer as prime minister on Friday (Jul 5) during an audience at Buckingham Palace.

A photograph released by the palace showed the monarch shaking hands with Starmer, whose party won a landslide election victory. The king earlier accepted the resignation of Conservative leader Rishi Sunak.

"The King received in Audience The Right Honourable Sir Keir Starmer MP today and requested him to form a new Administration," a palace statement read.

"Sir Keir accepted His Majesty's offer and kissed hands upon his appointment as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury." 

Under Britain’s constitutional monarchy, the king is head of state but must remain politically neutral and leave policy-making to the elected parliament. He is obliged to follow the government’s advice and not act on his own opinions.

"The work of change begins immediately," Starmer told reporters outside Downing Street after accepting head of state King Charles III's request for him to form a government.

"But have no doubt, we will rebuild Britain," he added.

He also paid tribute to Sunak, who was appointed Tory leader and prime minister in October 2022 after Liz Truss' disastrous tenure.

"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," he said.

"We pay tribute to that today. We also recognise the dedication and hard work he brought to his leadership," he added.

Starmer's centre-left Labour Party swept to power on Friday after the general election, ending 14 years of right-wing Conservative rule by Sunak's party.

Labour crossed the 326-seat threshold for a working majority in the 650-seat parliament. It is forecast to win a landslide with 410 seats.

"A mandate like this comes with a great responsibility," Starmer told supporters at a triumphant dawn rally in London, moments after the results that sealed its landslide win were announced.

The 61-year-old pledged to start work straightaway on improving the country.

"Today we start the next chapter - begin the work of change, the mission of national renewal and start to rebuild our country," Starmer told the crowd.

"Change begins now. And it feels good, I have to be honest. Four-and-a-half years of work changing the party. This is what it is for, a changed Labour Party, ready to serve our country. Ready to restore Britain to the service of working people."

Labour snatched a swathe of Tory seats around the country, including from at least eight Cabinet members.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps was the highest-profile scalp of the night so far, with other big names, including senior minister Penny Mordaunt and leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg also defeated.

Other Tory casualties included Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, as well as Transport and Science Secretary Michelle Donelan.

Finance minister Jeremy Hunt hung on to remain an MP, but only by 891 votes.

It was a humiliating night for the Conservatives, who were predicted to suffer the worst performance in the party's long history with voters punishing them for a cost of living crisis, failing public services and a series of scandals.

"Today power will change hands in a peaceful and orderly manner, with goodwill on all sides," Sunak said after retaining his seat. "There is much to learn and reflect on and I take responsibility for the loss to the many good hardworking Conservative candidates ... I am sorry."

Shapps, an MP since 2005, criticised the Tories' "inability to iron out their differences" amid an endless political "soap opera" that saw five prime ministers since the 2016 Brexit vote.

"What is crystal clear to me tonight - it is not so much that Labour won but that the Conservatives lost," he added.

TO-DO LIST

Labour's resurgence is a stunning turnaround from five years ago, when hard-left former leader Jeremy Corbyn took the party to its worst defeat since 1935 in an election dominated by Brexit.

Starmer took over in early 2020 and set about moving the party back to the centre, making it a more electable proposition and purging infighting and anti-Semitism that lost it support.

Opinion polls have put Labour consistently 20 points ahead of the Tories for almost the past two years, giving an air of inevitability about a Labour win - the first since Tony Blair in 2005.

Starmer is facing a daunting to-do list.

Britain's tax burden is set to hit its highest since just after World War II, net debt is almost equivalent to annual economic output and living standards have fallen.

Public services are creaking, especially the much cherished National Health Service which has been dogged by strikes.

Starmer has already had to scale back some of Labour's more ambitious plans such as its flagship green spending pledges, while promising not to raise taxes for "working people".

He has also promised a return of political integrity, after a chaotic period of five Tory prime ministers, including three in four months, scandal and sleaze.

Much of the heavy damage to the Conservative support was inflicted by the right-wing populist Reform UK party, headed by Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, who had campaigned strongly on curbing immigration.

"There is a massive gap on the centre-right of British politics and my job is to fill it, and that's exactly what I'm going to do," a triumphant Farage said after finally being elected to parliament at his eighth attempt.

"Believe me, folks, this is just the first step of something that is going to stun all of you."

POPULIST ALTERNATIVE

The rise in support for a populist alternative echoed recent similar results in Europe, where the far right has been surging.

But, unlike France where Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party made historic gains in an election last Sunday, overall the British public has plumped for a centre-left party to bring about change.

Starmer has promised to improve relations with the European Union to resolve issues created by Brexit, just as far-right politicians are enjoying success. However, despite opposing Brexit, rejoining the European Union is not on the table.

He may also have to work with Donald Trump in the United States if he wins November's presidential election, but he has vowed to continue London's unequivocal support for Ukraine.

Sunak stunned Westminster and many in his own party by calling the election earlier than he needed to in May with the Conservatives trailing Labour by some 20 points in opinion polls, and his campaign then proved a disaster.

"We deserved to lose. The Conservative Party just appears exhausted and out of ideas," Ed Costello, the chairman of the Grassroots Conservatives organisation, which represents rank-and-file members, told Reuters.

"But it is not all Rishi Sunak’s fault. It is Boris Johnson and Liz Truss that have led the party to disaster. Rishi Sunak is just the fall guy."