What happened in the UK election and what's next?
In the UK general election, the Labour Party triumphed handily, taking hundreds of seats nationwide and toppling 14 years of Conservative control.
Later on Friday, Sir Keir Starmer will take over as prime minister, capping a period in which five different Conservative leaders have led the nation.
At approximately 04:40 in the morning, the departing Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, announced that Labour had won and that he had congratulated Sir Keir over the phone.
Minutes later, the Labour leader made promises of "national renewal" and "country first, party second" in his victory speech.
He declared in a victory address, "We have earned the mandate to relight the fire," to Labour activists. "Reviving the concepts that bind this nation together is our mission.
This election's outcome is a startling contrast to the 2019 one, in which Labour—led by seasoned left-winger Jeremy Corbyn—saw its worst political loss in over a century.
Conversely, former Conservative minister Robert Buckland, who lost his seat, called it "electoral Armageddon" for the Conservatives.
It is anticipated to be the party's worst performance in nearly 200 years, and in the next few days, a struggle over the party's future course is likely to start.
There is still a ton of action ahead after this long night of outcomes. This is the situation and what it all means.
A massive win for Labour
There are 650 MPs, or members of parliament, in the British House of Commons. Every one of their "seats" stands for a distinct constituency, or region, across the nation.
To now, Labour has secured 410 seats, the Conservative party has dropped to just 119, and the Liberal Democrats, who lean centrist, have captured 71 seats.
The Brexit Party's replacement, Reform UK, is expected to gain four seats. Although a huge amount, Labour's predicted majority of 170-seats in the House of Commons is still less than the 179 seats the party won under Tony Blair in the 1997 election.
To put things in perspective, however, the Conservatives' victory in the 2019 election under Boris Johnson—considered a highly impressive showing—saw them secure a majority of 80 seats.
Remind yourself that a party with a majority does not require the support of other parties in order to enact legislation.
Big names fade away one by one,(yet some continue)
There have been some significant moments as constituencies have announced their results live on television- with all of the candidates arranged side by side on stage.
The loss to Liz Truss was possibly the most noteworthy. Before her party forced her out of Number 10, the former prime minister occupied the position for just 49 days. She had previously held a massive 24,180 majority, but she lost to Labour in the South West Norfolk constituency by a small margin.
Among the most well-known figures to lose was former Conservative business secretary and ardent Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg. Labour won his seat in East Somerset and Hanham.
In spite of his inability to "blame anybody other than myself" for the defeat, he saw a "small silver lining" in the Conservatives' status as "at least the official opposition" (a reference to worries they wouldn't even have that).
Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, was frightened after losing his seat in southern England.
Penny Mordaunt, the House Leader who competed against Rishi Sunak for party leadership before becoming Prime Minister, also lost her seat.
Jeremy Hunt, the UK's chancellor - the equivalent of a finance minister - retained his seat despite a significantly smaller margin.
Mr Sunak won his seat in Yorkshire with a strong majority of over 12,000 votes, but used his acceptance speech to admit and declare his party's defeat.
But hold on, we're still waiting for the results of some other major games.
A new Prime Minister inside a day
Things move quickly in British politics, with little time between election results and the installation of a new prime minister.
Rishi Sunak will leave 10 Downing Street, the British version of the White House, within 24 hours, and Sir Keir Starmer will be placed shortly after.
But there is a process. Mr Sunak will tender his resignation to the King, and Sir Keir will be formally invited by the monarch to form the next administration during a meeting often held at Buckingham Palace.
Following that, he is anticipated to summon senior Labour MPs to Downing Street and install them to his new cabinet.
Who is Keir Starmer, then?
In comparison, he is relatively fresh to politics.
In the 1990s, Sir Keir began his career as a barrister. In 2008, he was named the Director of Public Prosecutions, making him the highest ranking criminal prosecutor in England and Wales. After the party's dismal performance in the 2019 general election.
He was elected to the Labour leadership in the north London constituency of Holborn and St Pancras. He had previously been elected in 2015 and had promised to usher in a "new era" following Jeremy Corbyn's left-wing leadership.
In his victory speech, Sir Keir declared that the people were "ready for change" and vowed to "end the politics of performance" in order to win reelection in the same constituency on Thursday.
"The change begins right here because this is your democracy, your community, your future," he stated. "You cast your ballot. Now is the moment for our delivery.
" The whole profile of Sir Keir is available here.
Nigel Farage is elected to the MP
Reform UK, the right-wing replacement for the UK Independence Party and the Brexit Party, emerged as the rebel party in this election.
Its leader, Nigel Farage, succeeded in winning a seat after eight attempts, but his party's earlier prediction of 13 seats proved to be a mirage. Mr. Farage has been relishing the fact that that's still better than UKIP and the Brexit Party ever did.
It appears that the party will receive roughly 14% of the vote.
During the campaign, some of Reform's candidates and activists made insulting remarks that caused controversy.
Rupert Lowe, Richard Tice, the founder of Reform, and former Conservative party deputy chairman Lee Anderson will join Mr. Farage in the House of Commons.
