Newsone Nigeria reports that Britain’s head of state King Charles III officially appointed Labour leader Keir Starmer as Prime Minister on Friday during an audience at Buckingham Palace.
A photograph released by the palace showed the monarch shaking hands with Starmer, whose party won a landslide election victory. The king earlier accepted the resignation of Conservative leader Rishi Sunak.
“The King received in audience The Right Honourable Sir Keir Starmer MP today and requested him to form a new administration.
“Sir Keir accepted His Majesty’s offer and kissed hands upon his appointment as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury,” a palace statement read.
This online news platform recalls that Keir Starmer’s Labour Party won a landslide victory in the UK general election, making Starmer the new prime minister.
As the final figures come in, Labour is expected to win 410 seats, with the Conservatives on 144. Also, Rishi Sunak has accepted defeat, and said he called Starmer to congratulate him.
Britain’s King Charles III (R) meets with Britain’s incoming Prime Minister Keir Starmer during an audience at Buckingham Palace in London on July 5, 2024, a day after Britain held a general election. [Credit: AFP]
After winning his seat in Holborn and St Pancras, Starmer said “The change begins right here…it is time for us to deliver”.
In the highest-profile Conservative losses so far, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Penny Mordaunt lost to Labour.
Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, becomes an MP for the first time, winning Clacton, while the party’s Richard Tice and Lee Anderson also won.
Ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn won Islington North as an independent, and Labour’s Jon Ashworth lost to an independent.
George Galloway of the Workers Party lost the seat he won earlier this year.
Also, Carla Denyer won for the Green Party in Bristol Central, while the SNP is forecast to go from 43 seats before the election to just six.