Keir Starmer becomes UK PM as conservatives suffer record defeat in huge Labour landslide

LONDON -- A change election in the United Kingdom has taken place as the center-left Labour Party won a huge landslide, putting a crushing end to the 14-year rule of the Conservative Party, which suffered a record devastating defeat -- perhaps the worst in its history.Voters have inflicted a historic wipe out on the Tory party that led Britain through Brexit and, with almost all results called, Labour has won over 400 seats, gaining a huge majority of more than 190, comparable to Tony Blair’s sweeping victory in 1997.The Tories meanwhile have lost hundreds of seats, on track for the worst result since the party’s founding in the 1830s.Labour’s Keir Starmer became prime minister Friday morning after Rishi Sunak resigned in front of King Charles III and Starmer met him immediately after to ask for permission to form a government, a formality that was granted by the reigning monarch.MORE: What it's like living next to Wimbledon, host of the world's most famous tennis tournamentBritain's Labour Party leader Keir Starmer delivers a speech during a victory rally at the Tate Modern in London early on July 5, 2024.Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty ImagesMORE: 'Tennis in an English garden': How Wimbledon's sustainability mission is impacting change on sports globallyStarmer is now the the first Labour leader to win an election since Tony Blair.The result is notable as a win for centrist progressives amid the far-right populist surge in the U.S.

and many other major Western countries as the British electorate voted overwhelming to sweep out the Tories, blaming their anger at the crumbling state of Britain’s public services and years of political chaos following Brexit.Starmer only became the Labour leader in 2019 and has dragged his party back to the center ground, wrestling it away from the influence of Bernie Sanders-like left-wing former leader Jeremy Corbyn.Britain's Labour Party leader Keir Starmer kisses his wife Victoria during a victory rally at the Tate Modern in ...