SVE NEWS & CNN.COM Sharing Series — Labour heading for UK election landslide

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Rishi Sunak concedes defeat, saying “Labour has won this election”

Britain's Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak arrives for the declaration of results in Northallerton, England, on July 5.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has conceded defeat in the general election, telling people at the count in his seat: “I am sorry.”

“The Labour Party has won this general election,” Sunak said, adding that he has called Keir Starmer to congratulate him and concede the election.

House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt loses seat in most high-profile defeat so far

Leader of the House of Commons and Conservative MP Penny Mordaunt arrives at the BBC studio in London on June 7, ahead of a live TV debate between representatives from the leading parties standing in the UK general election.

Penny Mordaunt, the House of Commons leader and a potential frontrunner in the impending race for the leadership of the Conservative Party, has lost her seat – the most high-profile loss of the night so far.

Mordaunt, who has been an MP since 2010, was dislodged by Labour challenger Amanda Martin in Portsmouth North. Martin received 14,495 votes to Mordaunt’s 13,715 votes.

Mordaunt beat Martin in 2019 with a majority of more than 15,000 votes.

Her defeat will be a blow to moderate Conservatives who are hoping to wrest control of the party away from its populist wing; Mourdaunt ran against Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak in the race to replace Boris Johnson as leader in 2022, and would have been expected to run again in another contest.

She also won attention around the world as the “lady in blue” at King Charles’ coronation.

Penny Mordaunt leads King Charles III during his coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey in London, on May 6, 2023.

Right-wing populist Nigel Farage becomes MP for the first time after winning in Clacton

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaks to the press as he arrives for the declaration of results in Clacton-on-Sea, England, on July 5.

Nigel Farage, the right-wing populist leader of the Reform UK party, has become an MP at the eighth attempt, winning a seat in the heavily pro-Brexit town of Clacton.

Farage’s Reform UK party has attacked the Conservatives on their failure to bring down rates of legal and illegal migration, and their message won over a considerable number of socially conservative former Tory voters.

The veteran Euroskeptic played a leading role in bringing about Britain’s departure from the European Union, and has remained a divisive and disruptive figure in the country’s politics since.

But he has never been elected to parliament, losing seven elections since 1994 before this victory. He won Clacton on a massive swing towards Reform, picking up 21,225 votes to the Conservatives’ 12,820.

“It’s not just disappointment with the Conservative Party. There is a massive gap on the centre right of British politics and my job is to fill it. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do,” Farage said after winning the seat.

He pledged to “challenge the general election properly in 2029,” and promised to turn his rhetoric towards Labour as they seem set to enter government.

His presence during the election campaign upended the Tories’ efforts to win back socially conservative, pro-Brexit voters. Now, he’ll likely be a prominent outside voice as the Conservatives decide on their next direction as the new opposition party.

CNN visited Clacton in the run-up to the election, to take the temperature of voters and assess how Farage’s anti-immigration message was received.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn defeats his old party standing as an independent

Jeremy Corbyn is seen at the vote counting in Islington.

Labour’s ex-leader, the left-wing politician Jeremy Corbyn, has defeated his former party in a unique battle in London’s Islington North, dealing a symbolic blow to his successor Keir Starmer.

Corbyn led Labour to two election defeats in 2017 and 2019, and was later suspended by the party for his response to an antisemitism scandal that erupted within Labour under his watch.

But the left-wing veteran mounted a challenge as an independent candidate in the north London constituency he has represented since 1983. He defeated Labour’s Praful Nargund, winning 24,120 votes to Nargund’s 16,873.

“Our campaign was a positive one. Our campaign did not get into the gutter of politics, as is too often happening in this country,” Corbyn said after winning.

Winning this seat was a huge priority for Labour, both as a symbolic marker of how dramatically the party’s ideology has shifted since Corbyn’s tenure, and to avoid the prospect of the politician leading a small throng of left-wing opponents to Starmer within parliament.

Now Corbyn will be expected to lead a throng of opposition from Labour’s left as Starmer looks set to govern in the coming years.

Two Cabinet ministers lose seconds apart

Britain's Defence Secretary Grant Shapps is pictured arriving for the King's Birthday Parade, "Trooping the Colour," in London on June 15.

Two Conservative Cabinet ministers have lost their seats just seconds apart, as the scale of the Tories’ misery increases on a devastating election night.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps lost his seat to Labour in Welwyn Hatfield, the most high-profile defeat of the night so far.

Shapps has held a number of Cabinet positions under different prime ministers, including energy security and net zero secretary, business, energy and industrial strategy secretary and home secretary. He was elected to parliament in 2005.

He lost his seat to Labour’s Andrew Lewin, who won by 3,799 votes. It’s quite the fall from grace after he secured his seat back in 2019 with a majority of almost 11,000 votes.

He had been one of a number of prominent Tory candidates expected to lose their seat after the exit poll released.

Almost at the same time, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk lost his seat to the Liberal Democrats.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk leaves Downing Street in London following the weekly cabinet meeting on March 12.

The twin defeats painted the perfect picture of a miserable night for the Conservatives, who have been carved up by Labour and the Lib Dems across the country.

And it could get worse – more Cabinet ministers are at risk, including the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt – in what could be an unprecedented evening.

What the UK front pages are looking like

We’re starting to get a glimpse of the Friday morning front pages which are obviously being dominated by the results of the exit poll, which foreshadows a Labour landslide and an undeniably poor showing from the Conservatives.

The Sun has opted to emphasize Labour’s win with the electoral map and a front page emblazoned with “Britain sees red.”

Tabloid paper the Daily Mirror has a full page shot of the Labour leader and his wife as they cast their vote on Thursday, with the headline: “KEIR WE GO.”

Meanwhile, the Daily Express has gone with “CRUSHING BLOW TO TORY PARTY IN ELECTION WIPEOUT” with a photo of Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak and his wife.

Keir Starmer says “it is time for us to deliver” after winning seat

Ker Starmer, who seems likely to be Britain’s next prime minister, said the country is “ready for change” after winning his seat in north London.

“Tonight, people here and around the country have spoken. They are ready for change,” Starmer said at the count.

Starmer was beaming as he arrived at the count, posing for selfies and taking his time to work his way through supporters and activists.

On stage, he was joined by a number of novelty candidates – including one dressed as Elmo – a unique feature of British democracy.

“I promise this: Whether you voted for me or not, I will serve every person in this constituency,” Starmer said.

Left-wing populist George Galloway loses his seat to Labour

George Galloway speaks during a press conference on Parliament Square in London, on April 30.

Labour has narrowly defeated the left-wing populist George Galloway in a key race in Rochdale, easing concerns within the party that its stance on Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza had damaged its reputation among Muslim voters.

Galloway won this seat months ago in a by-election, running on a heavily pro-Palestinian platform in the northwestern English town, which has a large Muslim population.

But Labour has returned to power in the constituency, beating Galloway by 33% to 29%.

Labour was initially strongly supportive of Israel’s war against Hamas, but it has become increasingly critical of its conduct in Gaza and now supports a ceasefire, along with the return of hostages held by Hamas.

Its early response nonetheless hit its support among Muslim voters during May’s local elections, a trend that has worried many in the party.

Populist Reform UK party wins its first seat of the night

Lee Anderson addresses delegates during a rally in Stafford, England, on June 23.

Reform UK’s Lee Anderson has won election in Ashfield, giving the right-wing populist group its first victory of the night.

Anderson was formerly the deputy chair of the Conservative Party, but he defected to Reform in January, criticizing Rishi Sunak’s record on controlling migration.

He called Ashfield the “capital of common sense,” telling people at his count: “This wonderful place which I call my home is going to have a massive say in how this country is shaped in the future. I want my country back and Ashfield can play their part in that.”

Winning this seat was a key target for the right-wing party, and it will hope to add a second soon, when results are announced in Clacton, where the party’s leader Nigel Farage is standing.

Reform were projected to win 13 seats in the exit poll. But the party earlier failed to pick up two seats in which the exit poll had projected them winners, suggesting it may fall short of that eye-catching overall predicted figure.

“Reports of my demise had been greatly exaggerated,” Labour’s Dan Jarvis joked, after winning Barnsley North despite the exit poll projecting he would lose it to Reform.

“I’ve watched colleagues say stupid things:” Furious backlash underway among Conservatives

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during a campaign visit to Stoke, England, on July 1.

An angry backlash among Conservatives has begun, with senior Tory figures hitting out at the direction of the party under Rishi Sunak.

Robert Buckland, the former justice minister who was ousted by Labour in Swindon earlier this evening, launched a blistering attack on his former colleagues after becoming the first Tory to lose their seat earlier tonight.

“I’m fed up with performance art politics,” Buckland told the BBC. “I’ve watched colleagues in the Conservative Party strike poses, write inflammatory op-eds and say stupid things they have no evidence for instead of concentrating on doing the job that they were elected to do.

“I think we’ve seen in this election astonishing ill-discipline within the party,” he added.

And the party was attacked from the right, too.

Andrea Leadsom, a former business secretary, told the BBC the party was no longer “Conservative enough,” and said voters are “sick of all this woke stuff.”

It epitomizes the problem Sunak has faced throughout his premiership: an inability to appease either the left or right flanks of his party.

Sunak has flirted with populist messaging — particularly on migration — and promoted right-wing colleagues to government posts. But those decisions often ended in rows, such as with Lee Anderson and Suella Braverman, both of whom quit their roles in protest at Sunak’s failure to bring down illegal migration.

Sunak has meanwhile failed to build bridges with the moderate wing of his party, with many center-right lawmakers alienated by his approach and imploring the party to compete with Labour for votes in the center ground of British politics.

Starmer has “net unfavorability ratings” despite predicted landslide for Labour, expert tells CNN

Labour leader Keir Starmer appears at an event in Southampton, England, on June 17.

Despite a predicted landslide win for the UK’s Labour Party, its leader Keir Starmer may have some work to do on his favorability raings, according to one think tank director.

“We see net unfavorability ratings for Keir Starmer, even though he’s going to have this massive, massive majority,” Anand Menon, director of think tank UK in a Changing Europe told CNN. “Beneath this sort of happy story for Labour, there are some warning signs about levels of dissatisfaction with prevailing political trends in this country.”

Menon noted that Starmer intends to “reset relations with European states and the European Union” after a tumultuous few years between the UK and EU after Brexit.

People in the UK are “disillusioned,” said Menon, who is a professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at King’s College London. “If you look at the polling, there’s a significant majority of people saying Brexit was the wrong decision, not the right decision.”

“If you do a focus group with voters, they might say Brexit has been bad, Brexit has been a failure. But if you say to them, how about we do another referendum then and go through it all again? You will get a collective eyeroll and a groan and say actually, please, let’s not go through that again,” he told CNN.

How Labour’s “ming vase” campaign steered it to victory

Campaign signage for Britain's Labour party is seen in Guildford, England, on June 14, ahead of the UK general election.

The Labour Party had a very good problem at the start when the election was called: How do you run a campaign that absolutely everyone expects you to win?

Keir Starmer’s party had enjoyed a double-digit lead in opinion polls for the entirety of Rishi Sunak’s premiership, which began in October 2022, and was guaranteed to win the election as long as it didn’t rock the boat during the six-week campaign.

Labour appealed to an electorate tired of the Tories’ chaotic period in government with a single-word slogan: “Change.” But Starmer simultaneously followed a path that some party strategists took to calling a “ming vase” approach, metaphorically looking after a precious and delicate lead in opinion polls. The party repeated its key themes, avoided the temptation to unveil any major policy announcements, and pledged time after time that the party would keep a tight lid on public finances.

The party’s manifesto was modest, pledging to revive Britain’s flagging public services without a large injection of cash. That has raised eyebrows by independent watchdogs, including the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), which said their public spending offer was “tiny, going on trivial.”

But that was a calculation Labour has stuck to, as they sought to gain a reputation as a sensible, moderate party that can appeal to former Tory voters.

Starmer avoided gaffes, and didn’t interrupt his opponent Rishi Sunak when he was making mistakes of his own.

And he became an increasingly difficult rival for the Conservatives to land successful attacks against. Sunak strived to convince voters that Starmer would increase taxes, make Britain less safe, and that he didn’t have the stamina for the job of prime minister — but none of these charges appear to have stuck.

Labour’s projected victory is a personal triumph for Keir Starmer that once seemed impossible

Labour leader Keir Starmer smiles on the final day of campaigning in Whitland, Wales, on July 3.

The Labour Party’s projected victory marks a historic moment in modern British political history and a huge personal triumph for Keir Starmer, the Labour leader who is set to become the country’s next prime minister.

The UK broadcasters’ exit poll suggests Labour will have a parliamentary majority of 170, returning the party to office for the first time since it lost the 2010 election to the Conservatives, who have been in power ever since.

Starmer’s victory is all the more remarkable considering the journey that Labour has been on since the last general election in 2019. Then, the party suffered its worst loss in a generation under former leader Jeremy Corbyn, who stood on a hard-left platform.

A path back to credibility and even being competitive in a general election looked potentially a decade off, as the Conservatives emerged triumphant from the carnage of Brexit under the charismatic – but chaotic – leadership of Boris Johnson.

Johnson not only defeated his political rivals, but completely upended the norms of British politics. Under his leadership, his party won seats in traditional working-class Labour areas once deemed out of reach to Conservatives. For a year at least, he seemed untouchable.

It was in this context that Starmer took control of a broken Labour Party on April 4, 2020. On that day, David Lammy, one of his Labour colleagues, took him to one side and warned Starmer: “Set yourself a 10-year cycle. You might just lose the next election, and then you can go again.”

According to Lammy, Starmer smiled and said “No, I can do this in five.”

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