Rishi Sunak bids farewell in magnanimous speech
Labour Party supporters wait outside 10 Downing Street in London. Pic/AFP
Britain’s Labour Party swept to power Friday after more than a decade in opposition, as a jaded electorate handed the party a landslide victory — but also a mammoth task of reinvigorating a stagnant economy and dispirited nation.
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Labour leader Keir Starmer will officially become prime minister later in the day, leading his party back to government less than five years after it suffered its worst defeat in almost a century. In the merciless choreography of British politics, he will take charge in 10 Downing St. hours after Thursday’s votes are counted — after Conservative leader Rishi Sunak left and went to Buckingham Palace to offer his resignation to King Charles III.
“This is a difficult day, but I leave this job honoured to have been prime minister of the best country in the world,” Sunak said in his final remarks outside the official residence. Sunak had conceded defeat earlier in the morning, saying the voters had delivered a “sobering verdict”. In a magnanimous farewell speech, Sunak wished Starmer all the best: “Whatever our differences in this campaign, he is a decent public-spirited man who I respect.”
Record number of Indian-origin MPs elected
A record number of around 26 Indian-origin members of Parliament have been elected to the House of Commons in the UK’s general election as results were announced on Friday, with several Conservatives surviving an overall brutal outcome for their party. Outgoing prime minister Rishi Sunak leads the Tory charge of British Indians holding on to their seats, with a decisive win in his Richmond and Northallerton constituency in Yorkshire. It would have come as small consolation for the Tory leader, who saw his party haemorrhage over 200 seats as the Labour Party’s landslide victory unfolded.
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