Keir Starmer vowed to bring change to Britain as its next prime minister after his Labour Party surged to a comprehensive win in a parliamentary election on Friday, ending 14 years of often tumultuous Conservative government.
The center-left Labour was set to win a massive majority in the 650-seat parliament with Rishi Sunak's Conservatives poised to suffer the worst performance in the party's long history as voters punished them for a cost of living crisis, failing public services, and a series of scandals.
"Change begins now," Starmer said in a victory speech. "We said we would end the chaos, and we will, we said we would turn the page, and we have. Today, we start the next chapter, begin the work of change, the mission of national renewal and start to rebuild our country."
Sunak had earlier conceded defeat and said he had called Starmer to congratulate him on his victory. "I take responsibility for the loss to the many good hardworking Conservative candidates ... I am sorry," Sunak said.
Starmer, 61 after a long career in law, was considered an uncharismatic politician but after 14 years of upheaval and political scandal under Tory rule, and amid high inflation and a rising cost of living, Brits have had enough. Starmer delivered his party one of its greatest victories in history.
He ran on a promise of change as he had transformed his own party. He ascended to its leadership in 2020 after Jeremy Corbyn all but destroyed it in his own scandals and controversies. Although he supported Korbin through some of his tenure, he ousted his controversial predecessor over his antisemitism and apologized for the Labour Party in his first speech and over the years since, had removed some 300 of Corbyn's supporters from the party in what his critics called a purge.
Success as Labour leader to be measured by the return of Jews to the party after Korbin, Starmer said
He said his success would be determined by the return of Jews to the party. Thursday's ballot indicated that he had succeeded. While just 11% of British Jews voted Labour in 2019, under Korbin who declared Hamas and Hezbollah to be his friends, exit polls showed that this time, between 30% and 50% did so this time round.
"Many Jews wanted to return to Labour. They did not want to leave the party in the first place but were forced to under Corbyn," a Jewish school teacher told the Washington Post. "It is our natural home."
Starmer's wife Victoria comes from an Ashkenazi Jewish background and the couple revealed recently that they were raising their children with an emphasis on their Jewish heritage. They said the family sits down to a Shabbat meal, Pretty much every week,' including the traditional blessings, and often attend services at a liberal synagogue.
Although neither of them is religious, in fact Starmer describes himself as an atheist, and Victoria would not be considered a Jew under Halachic laws, they said that their children's roots and the Jewish tradition are important to them
Starmer stands by Israel's right to self-defense and backs an end to the war only when hostages are freed; he is expected to be more critical of Netanyahu's government and supports a Palestinian state after a comprehensive peace agreement
“We’re very keen for the children to know about it, to understand it. Half of the family are Jewish, and are either here or in Israel," he said. “Thank God nobody was directly affected by the massacre," he said after October 7 but added that there was “no doubt" they had been affected by the war.
Starmer is considered a supporter of Israel but would likely be more critical of its government than Sunak had been. He said a Labour government would recognize a Palestinian State but only as part of a comprehensive peace process and did not set a schedule for such a move.
Since October, Starmer had highlighted his strong belief in Israel's right to self-defense and refused for a long time to call for an end to the fighting. Only after pressure, he agreed to support such a call but tied it to the return of the Israeli hostages abducted by Hamas. His position was clear despite criticism from the radical left wing of his party, including Muslim members.