Shattered Tories face big questions after Labour victory
One by one, result after result confirmed it.
The Labour landslide so long predicted had come to pass.
A jubilant Keir Starmer spoke of the “sunlight of hope” as he acknowledged his party’s win and readied himself for his new job as British Prime Minister.
As Labour spoke of sunlight though the mood was far darker in the Conservative Party.
The worst electoral loss in the party’s history saw several major names lose their seats, chief among them Liz Truss, the former prime minister, albeit for a short time.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, Grant Shapps and Penny Mordaunt were among those who also lost out.
The analysis of what went wrong within the Conservative Party has already begun.
For some in the party it had started while the campaign was still under way.
The loss of Liz Truss’s seat makes it harder to lay the blame for this loss entirely at Rishi Sunak’s door.
After a difficult campaign and an ill-timed election Mr Sunak acknowledged his responsibility for the result, but many in the party now say the outcome is clearly a repudiation of several years of Tory rule rather than a bad six weeks.
The results were a stark list of winners and losers.
The Liberal Democrats joining Labour in enjoying one of their best elections ever.
The Scottish National Party joining the Conservatives in large losses.
The new political kid in town, the Reform Party, finally getting that veteran of the British political landscape Nigel Farage a seat in the Commons.
That his party managed to break through enough to take four seats in the Commons buoyed Mr Farage up to say this is just the “first step of something that will stun you all”.
The transfer of power begins now with Rishi Sunak due to leave Downing Street and Keir Starmer due to arrive to begin the mammoth task ahead.
Having run a campaign based on the concept of change, Mr Starmer is expected to focus on that topic when he speaks outside Downing Street later.
There will be change also among those who lost.
Rishi Sunak would be expected to now stand down as Tory leader, leaving not just Number 10, but also the party which he has led into such disastrous election results.
