Beyond Starmer's wildest dreams: Labour landslide with majority of more than 170

The King arrived at Buckingham Palace shortly before 10.30am as Rishi Sunak was due to head there to resign as PM after his decision to call an early summer election backfired so spectacularly.

- Nicholas Cecil

SIR Keir Starmer became Prime Minister today after a landslide victory which saw a dozen Cabinet ministers toppled in a nightmare rout for the Tories.

The Labour leader was expected to have met the King around lunchtime before being driven back to Downing Street to lay out the core beliefs on how his party will govern.

He was taking office after Labour won 412 seats, up 211, the Tories slumped by 250 to 121 to their lowest ever result, the Liberal Democrats soared to a record high 71 seats, gaining 63, and the Scottish National Party imploded in Scotland, losing 38 seats to end on just nine, with two constituencies still to declare.

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK won four seats, including Mr Farage’s own in Clacton at his eighth attempt to get into Parliament, with the Greens and Plaid Cymru also both getting four seats each.

The speed and brutality of the British electoral system, which saw Labour gain a majority of some 176, was on full show as scores of parliamentary candidates were left dazed by shock losses as Mr Farage’s Reform UK inflicted heavy damage on the Tories. Former premier Liz Truss was out of Parliament, as were Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, former Brexit minister Sir Jacob ReesMogg and Penny Mordaunt, who served as Commons Leader.

Jeremy Hunt left 11 Downing Street for the f inal t ime as Chancellor mid-morning, having narrowly clung onto his Surrey seat.

Mr Sunak, who announced the election in the rain, made his final speech in Downing Street, ending 14 years of Conservative rule, on another wet day.

He told the nation “I have heard your anger” and confirmed that he would step down as Conservative leader — “not immediately, but once the formal arrangements for selecting my successor are in place”.