XPost: uk.politics.misc, aus.politics, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: sac.politics, alt.society.liberalism   
   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   The Labour Party has won a landslide victory in the UK general election,   
   sweeping into power after 14 years of Conservative rule on the back of a   
   wave of public disillusionment.   
      
   Party leader Keir Starmer took over as prime minister on Friday after   
   King Charles III formally asked him to form a new government, with the   
   politician promising the British public he would steer the country   
   towards “calmer waters.”   
      
   Starmer, 61, begins his term with what is one of the biggest   
   parliamentary majorities in British history and is expected to introduce   
   a program of far-reaching reforms.   
      
   Addressing the nation from outside 10 Downing Street for the first time   
   as prime minister, Starmer had one overarching message: Change starts   
   now.   
      
   “It is surely clear to everyone that our country needs a bigger reset, a   
   rediscovery of who we are,” he said, cautioning that the national   
   renewal he was promising would take time.   
      
   “Changing a country is not like flipping a switch, the world is now a   
   more volatile place,” he said.   
      
   Meanwhile, the Conservative Party recorded the worst result in its   
   history, prompting some commentators to observe that the overall   
   election result was as much about British voters booting out the   
   Conservatives as voting in Labour.   
      
   The party lost more than 250 of the seats it had held in the 650-seat   
   Parliament since 2019.  There were high-profile casualties, with the   
   short-lived former Prime Minister Liz Truss and several cabinet   
   ministers being booted out by voters.   
      
   Conservative leader and, as of Friday morning, former Prime Minister   
   Rishi Sunak took responsibility for the electoral wipeout, apologizing   
   to voters in his farewell address.   
      
   “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,” he said on the doorstep of the famous 10 Downing   
   Street residence.   
      
   Sunak announced he would resign as the leader of the Conservative Party   
   as soon as arrangements were made to find his successor.   
      
   “I have heard your anger, your disappointment. And I take responsibility   
   for this loss,” he told voters as his wife Akshata Murty stood by.   
      
   The handover of power is a swift – and sometimes brutal – process in the   
   UK, with the outgoing prime minister replaced within hours of losing the   
   election.   
      
   In keeping with tradition, Sunak left Downing Street for the last time   
   immediately after his speech and was driven the short distance to   
   Buckingham Palace to meet the King and hand in his resignation.   
      
   Having conceded the election in the early hours of Friday, Sunak was out   
   of the job by midday.   
      
   An hour or so later, election winner Starmer arrived for a brief   
   audience with the King. Leaving the palace as the newly minted prime   
   minister, he then headed straight to Downing Street.   
      
   The two politicians paid respectful tribute to each other, even though   
   they did not meet in person on Friday.   
      
   Sunak called his successor “a decent, public-spirited man who I respect”   
   on his way out, while Starmer praised his predecessor’s “dedication and   
   hard work” and highlighted the significance of him being the first   
   British Asian prime minister.   
      
   Many winners, as many losers   
   While the night was marked by a seismic shift in power from the   
   Conservatives to Labour, other parties scored big wins.   
      
   The Liberal Democrats went from winning just 11 seats at the 2019   
   general election to securing more than 70. Traditionally the   
   third-biggest party across the UK, the Lib Dems have in the past   
   struggled to break through and convert their relatively high vote share   
   into parliamentary seats because of the UK’s first-past-the-post   
   electoral system, which favors the biggest parties.   
      
   Reform UK, the insurgent rightwing populist party, won roughly 14% of   
   the vote but took only five seats in parliament, having split the   
   rightwing vote in many places and further hurt the Conservatives.   
      
   The grouping is led by Nigel Farage, the face of the Brexit movement and   
   an ally of former US President Donald Trump. Farage himself was elected   
   a member of parliament (MP) for the first time – after running   
   unsuccessfully seven times in the past.   
      
   It was a good night too for the Green Party. While the party stood   
   candidates in a record number of constituencies in this election, its   
   official goal was to win four seats - and it succeeded in all four,   
   managing to take two seats from the Conservatives.   
      
   Meanwhile, the Scottish National Party, or SNP, had a disastrous night,   
   suffering a near total wipeout and ending up with just nine seats,   
   compared to 47 previously.   
      
   While that defeat might put the push for an independent Scotland on the   
   backburner for now, in Northern Ireland the Irish nationalist Sinn Féin   
   became the biggest party, overtaking the Democratic Unionist Party, or   
   DUP.   
      
   Sinn Féin advocates for a united Ireland and boycotts the UK Parliament,   
   traditionally abstaining from Westminster politics. The DUP, meanwhile,   
   wants a tighter relationship between Northern Ireland and the rest of   
   the UK.   
      
   Turnout nationwide was low, at just below 60% - only the second time in   
   the past century that more than 40% of voters decided to stay home.   
      
   And although Labour won by a landslide in terms of seats in parliament,   
   the popular vote showed the party’s win was not a resounding victory.   
   Labour only increased its vote share by a few percentage points from its   
   dismal 2019 showing.   
      
   Government-building and soul searching   
   Starmer began to form his government on Friday, promising the public he   
   would start working immediately. He appointed Rachel Reeves as the UK’s   
   first female treasury chief and his long-time deputy party leader Angela   
   Rayner as his deputy PM.   
      
   The new cabinet is expected to mirror Starmer’s former shadow   
   government, although some Labour MPs might see their roles diminished   
   following a poorer than expected showing in their individual   
   constituencies.   
      
   Starmer also named David Lammy as Foreign Secretary and Yvette Cooper as   
   Home Secretary.   
      
   The new prime minister begins his tenure with a strong personal mandate.   
   The huge Labour victory is seen by many as his personal success.   
      
   His rise to the top job caps what has been a remarkable, and swift,   
   transformation of the Labour Party since the last general election in   
   2019, when it suffered its worst loss in a generation under its former   
   hard-left leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who, in another twist was re-elected as   
   an independent after being expelled from Labour.   
      
   Starmer has moved the party back toward the center, promising   
   sustainable public finances, no increases in income taxes and a green   
   agenda.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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