Rishi Sunak to stand down as Conservative leader and formally resign as prime minister
British prime minister Rishi Sunak apologised to the country after his catastrophic election loss and said he had heard voters’ “anger and disappointment” and desire for change.
Speaking outside 10 Downing Street after a disastrous night for the Conservative Party, Mr Sunak confirmed his resignation as prime minister and said: “To the country I would like to say first and foremost, 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. And yours is the only judgment that matters.
“I have heard your anger, your disappointment, and I take responsibility for this loss.”
He also said he would step down as Conservative leader once the arrangements for selecting his successor were in place. The party looks set to win just over 121 seats, its worst result in history.
[ UK election: High profile casualties include Rees-Mogg and Truss ]
He congratulated Keir Starmer on Labour’s landside victory, saying: “In this job his successes will be all our successes and I wish him and his family well. Whatever our disagreements in this campaign he is a decent, public-spirited man who I respect.
“He and his family deserve the very best of our understanding as they make the huge transition to their new lives behind this door,” he added.
By 11am when all but two constituencies had declared their results, Labour had won a huge landslide with more than 410 seats. Mr Sunak said the Tories now needed to rebuild and take up their “crucial” role in opposition.
He then travelled to Buckingham Palace for his final audience with the king before Mr Starmer formally becomes prime minister.
Speaking about his legacy, Mr Sunak said he had brought down inflation to the Bank of England target of 2 per cent, put mortgage rates on a downward trajectory and enhanced the UK’s international standing. He cited support for Ukraine and the negotiation of the Windsor framework on post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland.
“I’m proud of those achievements. I believe this country is safer, stronger and more secure than it was 20 months ago,” he said. “It is more prosperous, fairer and resilient than it was in 2010.”
[ Mark Paul: Conservatives lost UK's landslide election just as much as Labour won it ]
Referencing his historic status as the UK’s first British Asian prime minister, Mr Sunak said: “One of the most remarkable things about Britain is just how unremarkable it is that two generations after my grandparents came here with little, I could become prime minister. And that I could watch my two young daughters light Diwali candles on the steps in Downing Street.
“We must hold true to that idea of who we are. That vision of kindness, decency and tolerance that has always been the British way.”
He thanked his family for their support and sacrifices and, after concluding his speech, walked into a waiting car on Downing Street hand-in-hand with his wife, Akshata Murty.
Mr Sunak became Tory leader October 2022 without any contest after the implosion of Liz Truss’s 45-day stint in Downing Street. He has pledged to stay on as an MP for the full term of the current parliament.
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There was some consolation for the Tories when the chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt unexpectedly held his seat in Godalming and Ash.
Mr Hunt wished Mr Starmer and incoming chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves well and said they could bring about reforms of the NHS that a Tory government could not.
He also gave a blistering analysis of why the Tories lost the election. “Some Conservatives will wonder whether the scale of our crushing defeat is really justified, but when you lose the trust of the electorate, all that matters is to have the courage and humility to ask yourself why”.
Another Tory MP who held his seat unexpectedly was the former leader Iain Duncan-Smith. Some pollsters were giving him a 99 per cent chance of losing the seat he has held in Chingford & Wood Green since 1992.
He succeeded because the Labour vote was split evenly between its candidate Shama Tatler and its former candidate Faiza Shaheen who was deselected over allegations of anti-Semitism.
Their combined vote of almost 25,000 would have easily beaten Mr Duncan-Smith, but he ultimately was the winner in the first-past-the post-system.
Another Tory survivor was the former home secretary Suella Braverman who won the Fareham and Waterlooville seat and is one of the favourites for the Tory leadership.
She said she would “rebuild trust” and apologised for her party’s failings, declaring: ‘I’m sorry that my party didn’t listen to you. The Conservative Party has let you down.
“You, the great British people, voted for us over 14 years and we did not keep our promises. I will do everything in my power to rebuild trust. We need to listen to you, you have spoken to us very clearly.” – Additional reporting: Guardian.
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