As the Labour Party announces its comeback with early results of the UK Parliamentary election suggesting a political shake-up, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has conceded defeat.
Acknowledging that the Opposition has won, Sunak said he rang up Labour Party leader Keir Starmer to congratulate him on his victory.
"Today, power will change hands in a peaceful and orderly manner, with goodwill on all sides. That is something that should give us all confidence in our country's stability and future," he said. "To the many good hardworking Conservative candidates who lost tonight despite their tireless efforts... I am sorry," the PM added.
As Britain scripts history by throwing the Conservative Party out of power after 14 years, the elections also saw the surge of Reforms UK led by controversial figure and ultra-nationalist Nigel Farage and a good show by Centrist t Liberal Democrats, who were predicted to capture 61 seats.
Key takeaways from the election.
1) Despite the rout and fear that he may lose both his seats, Rishi Sunak was reelected as the Tory MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire.
2) Defence Secretary Grant Shapps and Justice Secretary Alex Chalk early on Friday became the first senior Conservative leaders in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Cabinet to lose their seats in the UK general election.
3) Penny Mordaunt, once viewed as a possible leader of Britain's Conservative Party, lost her parliamentary seat to a candidate from the opposition Labour Party.
4) Populist right-wing party Reforms UK, led by Nigel Farage, was elected to parliament on Friday. Farage, a driving force behind Brexit, only entered the race last month. "There is a massive gap on the centre-right of British politics and my job is to fill it, and that's exactly what I'm going to do," he said after being declared the winner.
5) The elections also proved disastrous for the Scottish National Party, derailing their push for a new independence referendum. Though the SNP said winning the majority of Scottish seats would give it a mandate to pursue independence talks, exit polls said its campaign would end between 6 and 11 of the 57 seats.
6) Veteran left-winger and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn won his parliamentary seat, beating the candidate of the Labour Party. He is expected to be a thorn in the side of Keir Starmer's incoming government.
