Sir Keir Starmer was this morning basking in a massive general election win following a brutal night for Rishi Sunak’s Tories – but Labour’s victory is being dubbed a ‘loveless landslide’ and a ‘super meh-jority’.
With nearly all constituencies having declared their results, Labour were found to have won barely one in three votes across the UK.
Polling experts highlighted how Labour’s vote share of 33.8 per cent is likely to be less than any of Sir Tony Blair‘s general election victories in 1997, 2001 or 2005.
It is even less than the 40 per cent vote share hard-left Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn secured in 2017 and lower than the 36.1 per cent David Cameron got for the Conservatives in 2010 when that year’s election ended in a hung parliament.
Some newly-elected Labour MPs suggested the public will be thinking about overhauling Britain’s voting system in the wake of the party’s triumph, while Corbyn’s allies swiped that Sir Keir had won ‘by default’ due to the dramatic collapse in Conservative support.
The catastrophic decline in Tory votes saw the party slump to their lowest ever number of MPs and left Mr Sunak facing his final hours as Prime Minister.
Mr Sunak has flown back to London from his Yorkshire constituency, where he conceded that Sir Keir has won and issued a grovelling apology in a shell-shocked speech.
The premier will return to Downing Street, where he is expected to say a few valedictory words before heading to see the King and formally resign.
In an ironic full-circle moment, rain is falling in Westminster – echoing the miserable start to Mr Sunak’s ill-fated gamble, when he was drenched while announcing the snap election.
Sir Keir will follow Mr Sunak into Buckingham Palace, before returning to enter the famous black door of No10.
The traditional choreography comes as Labour’s majority ticks up to 170, just short of Blair’s 179 in 1997, with just a few seats left to declare. The Tories look to be struggling to reach 130 MPs, easily worse than their previous nadir of 156 in 1906.
The Lib Dems also inflicted massive pain on the Tories, racking up a record 71 seats as Reform leeched millions of votes and came second in around a hundred constituencies – but only scored four MPs of their own.
Sir Keir trumpeted his victory at a rally in central London after the party formally crested the 325 seats needed to control the Commons, saying ‘we did it!’
Sealing his triumph by embracing wife Victoria, he said the British people had ‘voted to turn the page’ on 14 years of Conservative rule – and delivered a riposte to his critics saying there was ‘nothing inevitable’ about the outcome.
It came minutes after a broken PM acknowledged that Sir Keir had won as he nervously took a victory in his own incredibly safe Richmond & Northallerton seat.
‘The British people have delivered a sobering verdict tonight, there is much to learn… and I take responsibility for the loss,’ he said.
‘To the many good, hard-working Conservative candidates who lost tonight, despite their tireless efforts, their local records and delivery, and their dedication to their communities. I am sorry.’
In a jaw-dropping moment, Liz Truss was among the casualties – giving up a monumental 24,000 majority as she was edged out by Labour in South West Norfolk.
Earlier, Penny Mordaunt and Grant Shapps fell victims to a brutal Tory cull as Labour swept towards election victory.
A glum-looking Defence Secretary suffered a ‘Portillo Moment’ as he was defeated by Labour in Welwyn Hatfield by around 3,000 votes.
Soon afterwards Ms Mordaunt missed out by a similar margin in Portsmouth North, admitting the party had ‘broken trust’ with voters.
In his parting shot, Mr Shapps said the Conservatives had ‘lost’ the election rather than Labour winning it – and ‘tried the patience’ of the public by being divided.
Rishi Sunak has flown back to London from Yorkshire, where he conceded that Keir Starmer has won and issued a grovelling apology in a shell-shocked speech
In an ironic full-circle moment, rain is falling in Westminster – echoing the miserable start to his ill-fated gamble, when he was drenched while announcing the snap election
Mr Sunak has gone to CCHQ to thank staff before drawing a line under his two-year premiership
A broken PM acknowledged that Keir Starmer had won as he nervously took a victory in his own incredibly safe Richmond & Northallerton seat
Sealing his triumph by embracing wife Victoria, Keir Starmer said the British people had ‘voted to turn the page’ on 14 years of Conservative rule – and delivered a riposte to his critics saying there was ‘nothing inevitable’ about the outcome
Keir Starmer trumpeted his victory at a rally in central London after the party formally crested the 325 seats needed to control the Commons
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s wife Victoria at a watch party as the results came in
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria pictured arriving at the Tate Modern earlier on Thursday evening
A broken PM acknowledged that Sir Keir had won as he nervously took a victory in his own incredibly safe Richmond & Northallerton seat