Britain swings to the center-left in a historic U.K. election landslide

With far-right parties ascendant in France and elsewhere in Europe, the United Kingdom has swung in the opposite direction. Official election results Friday showed a landslide victory for the country’s center-left Labour Party — its first victory in 19 years, since under the leadership of Tony Blair.

Incoming Prime Minister Keir Starmer hailed his win as historic, saying early Friday: “Change begins now.”

Later Friday, he gave his first speech outside the prime minister’s residence at 10 Downing Street, saying, he will lead a “government of service” on a “mission of national renewal” and promised to “rebuild Britain.”

For the Conservatives — the party of Margaret Thatcher, Boris Johnson and outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak — it was the worst defeat in their party’s nearly 200-year history. Prominent lawmakers including former Prime Minister Liz Truss, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Penny Mordaunt lost their seats in Parliament. Sunak retained his seat but resigned Friday as Conservative Party leader, and apologized to the country.

“I am sorry. I have given this job my all but you have sent a clear signal, that the government of the United Kingdom must change,” Sunak told reporters as he and his wife left the prime minister’s residence at 10 Downing Street for the last time. “I have heard your anger, your disappointment and I take responsibility for this loss.”

Britain’s Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak delivers a speech after retaining his seat as MP for Richmond and Northallerton in Northallerton, north of England, early on Friday.

After 14 years in power, the Conservatives were punished at the polls for all the tumult that occurred on their watch: Brexit, which most Britons now regret; Johnson’s partygate scandal, in which the then-prime minister threw parties while the country was under COVID-19 lockdown and then Johnson lied about them; and the disastrous 2022 budget of Johnson’s successor, Truss, which sent shockwaves through financial markets.

Britain now has more children in poverty than any other wealthy country, according to the United Nations. Without London, some estimate it is poorer than Mississippi, the poorest state in the U.S.