Keir Starmer begins term as UK's new PM after Labour victory
The leader of the Labour Party, Keir Starmer, became the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on Friday, replacing Rishi Sunak, who had resigned shortly before. Starmer is the 58th prime minister in the country's history.
At midday Greenwich Mean Time, Keir Starmer was received in an audience by King Charles III, who entrusted him—as the leader of the winning party in the elections—with the mission to form a government.
In Thursday's elections to the House of Commons, the Labour Party won 412 seats, giving them a comfortable majority and marking their second-best result in history. The Labour Party had been in opposition since losing the elections in May 2010.
"We did it. You campaigned for it. You fought for it. You voted for it. And now it has arrived. Change begins now. And it feels good, I have to be honest," said Starmer at dawn on Friday, just after the Labour Party won its 326th seat in Thursday's elections, signifying an absolute majority in the House of Commons.
Elections in the United Kingdom
Over 46 million citizens were eligible to vote, having registered to participate in the elections. They voted in about 40,000 polling stations to elect 650 members of the House of Commons. 4,515 candidates were contending for seats, the highest number in history; 459 ran as independent candidates, and the rest represented 98 political parties, which also set a record.
The newly appointed prime minister was born in 1962 in London but grew up in the small town of Oxted, south of the British capital. The Labour Party leader often emphasises his working-class background—his father was a toolmaker, and his mother worked as a nurse. His mother suffered from Still's disease, a rare autoimmune disease that eventually left her unable to speak or walk.
