“Change begins now, and it feels good” – the words with which Britain’s new prime minister, Keir Starmer, acknowledged his landslide victory in Britain’s general election. The party Starmer leads, Labour, has more than doubled the number of its MPs in Parliament. After fourteen years out of power and four successive election defeats, Labour will have one of the biggest Parliamentary majorities in modern British history.
For Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives, the humiliation is profound. The party will have just 120 or so of the 650 seats in Parliament. It’s the worst result in the party’s history. Across the country, seats which were seen as rock solid Conservative have been captured by their opponents.
It marks the end of Sunak’s twenty months in office – the first person of colour to become prime minister – and probably the end of his career at the top level of politics. He is likely to stand down as leader of the Conservative party, if not straight away, then within a matter of weeks.