Keir Starmer appoints cabinet after landslide general election victory – BBC News

Speaking outside No 10 after being appointed prime minister by the King at Buckingham Palace, Sir Keir pledged: “My government will serve you, politics can be a force for good.

“The work of change begins immediately, but have no doubt, we will rebuild Britain.”

In his farewell speech outside No 10, Rishi Sunak apologised to Tory candidates and told the public: “I have heard your anger, your disappointment.”

Labour won 412 seats – giving the party a majority of 174 in the new House of Commons. The Conservatives were reduced to a record low for them of 121 MPs, a net fall of 251.

The Liberal Democrats made 63 gains, giving them 71 seats. The SNP suffered a severe defeat, losing 38 seats to stand on nine with one constituency still to declare.

Reform UK won five seats, include leader Nigel Farage’s in Clacton, with the Greens increasing their number of MPs from one to four. Plaid Cymru doubled its number of MPs from two to four.

Within hours of becoming prime minister, Sir Keir’s appointments to his top team came thick and fast. He is expected to announce more ministerial roles.

Alongside her role as Sir Keir’s deputy, Ms Rayner will take control of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

A significant majority of the cabinet were state educated – with only three attending private schools.

The other two veterans of the last Labour government are Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband, and Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn.

Mr Lammy also served as a minister in the last Labour government alongside Pat McFadden, who takes over the Cabinet Office, and Defence Secretary John Healey.

All cabinet members supported Remain in the 2016 EU referendum. Ahead of the election, Sir Keir ruled out the UK rejoining the EU single market in his lifetime.

Sir Keir spent his first few hours as prime minister receiving calls of congratulations from world leaders.

US President Joe Biden told Sir Keir he looked forward to “further strengthening the special relationship” with the UK, according to the White House and Downing Street.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a social media post: “I am grateful to Prime Minister Starmer for reaffirming the UK’s principled and unwavering support for Ukraine.”

Meanwhile, Sir Keir and Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris committed themselves “to reset and strengthen” Anglo-Irish relations “with urgency and ambition”, the Irish government said.

The new cabinet includes some unexpected appointments.

Richard Hermer is attorney general, rather than Emily Thornberry who had shadowed the role.

Mr Hermer, a friend of Sir Keir’s from when he was a barrister, will receive a life peerage to allow him to sit in the House of Lords and attend cabinet.

Some members of Sir Keir’s shadow cabinet have not yet been given new positions – including Ms Thornberry, shadow women and equalities secretary and party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds, and shadow minister without portfolio Nick Thomas-Symonds.

A peerage has been given to former government chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance to become a science minister in the new government.

James Timpson has also received a peerage and appointed prisons minister.

He is current CEO of the Timpson Group, which has a policy of employing ex-offenders across its UK watch and shoe repair chain.

Neither Lord Vallance nor Lord Timpson will attend cabinet, the BBC understands.

Ms Reeves as chancellor is the first woman to hold the second most important role in government in the office’s 708-year history.

She said: “To every young girl and woman reading this, let today show that there should be no limits on your ambitions.”

Ms Reeves told her new team of Treasury officials she was “under no illusions of the scale of challenges we face”.

Mr Lammy posted on social media that being appointed foreign secretary was “the honour of my life”.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Lammy said his first priorities were “a reset on Europe, a reset on our relationships with the global south and a reset on climate”.

Some of Sir Keir’s key allies lost their seats, including Jonathan Ashworth in Leicester South, beaten by independent candidate Shockat Adam, who campaigned against Mr Ashworth’s stance on the war in Gaza. .

Former shadow culture secretary Thangam Debbonaire lost to Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer in Bristol Central

After surviving a challenge from a pro-Gaza independent in Birmingham Ladywood, Shabana Mahmood has been appointed justice secretary.

Alastair Campbell, ex-No 10 spin doctor under Tony Blair, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think what’s really interesting about the last 24 hours… people are saying when they saw that cabinet walking up Downing Street – just the feeling of change… of a new set of people who look more like us and sound like the rest of the country, and who have been very clear about what the priorities are.”

The Cabinet team announced are:

Mr Sunak has pledged to remain party leader until arrangements for selecting his successor were in place.

Penny Mordaunt – the former leader of the Commons and twice a candidate to be prime minister – lost her Portsmouth North seat, as did ex-cabinet minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg.

One key reason for the Conservatives’ results was increased support for Reform UK – who won 14.3% of the vote, propelling party leader Nigel Farage into Parliament for the first time, alongside four other Reform MPs.

The Liberal Democrats meanwhile have become the third largest in the Commons.

The Greens recorded their best general election performance yet with 6.8% of the vote across Great Britain.