Keir Starmer was invited by the King to form the first majority Labour Government after colossal election victory, scooping 412 seats in the House of Commons and 9.6million votes
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Keir Starmer leaves Buckingham Palace after meeting King Charles
Keir Starmer has officially become Britain’s 58th Prime Minister after winning a landslide election victory.
The Labour leader accepted an invitation from King Charles to form the first majority Labour Government since Gordon Brown left office in No10 – ending 14 years of Conservative rule. It came after Mr Starmer won a colossal victory, scooping 412 seats in the House of Commons as 9.6million voted for Labour at the General Election.
His official invitation to form a Government came just moments after Rishi Sunak left Downing Street for the final time as the Tories suffered their worst ever election defeat and were reduced to just 121 seats.
In a statement outside No10, Mr Sunak said: “To the country, I would like to say first and foremost, I am sorry.
General Election 2024 UPDATES: Watch LIVE as new PM Keir Starmer gives speech at No.10
“I have given this job my all, but you have sent a clear signal that the Government of the United Kingdom must change. And yours is the only judgment that matters. I have heard your anger, your disappointment, and I take responsibility for this loss.”
In a victory rally in the early hours of Friday morning the Labour leader told jubliant supporters “we did it!” and promised that the “change begins now”. He said the UK was waking up this morning to “the sunlight of hope”, which was “shining once again on a country with the opportunity after 14 years to get its future back”.
The Labour leader said: “We did it. You campaigned for it, you fought for it, you voted for it, and now it has arrived: change begins now. 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. And across our country, people will be waking up to the news, relief that a weight has been lifted, a burden finally removed from the shoulders of this great nation.”
Mr Starmer will shortly make his first speech as Prime Minister outside No10 before appointing senior members of his Cabinet, including Rachel Reeves as Chancellor – the first woman to ever hold the post.
