Labour won the UK general election in a landslide, ending 14 years of often wayward Conservative rule by elevating Keir Starmer for Prime Minister, writes BTA.
But the Labor leader only became prime minister yesterday after a carefully staged ceremony in which King Charles III formally invited him to form a new government.
This epitomizes the fact that, at least formally, the right to rule the country continues to be conferred by royal authority, centuries after real political power is in the hands of elected members of parliament.
Here are the results for 648 of the 650 parliamentary seats in the House of Commons (the lower house of parliament):
Labour Party - 412 seats (33.7% of votes);
Conservative Party - 121 seats (23.7% of votes);
Liberal Democrats - 71 seats (12.2% of votes);
Scottish National Party - 9 seats (2.5% of the vote);
Irish Republican Party "Sinn Fein" - 7 seats (0.7% of votes);
Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland - 5 seats (0.6% of the vote);
Party "Reform United Kingdom" - 4 seats (14.3% of the votes);
Green Party of England and Wales - 4 seats (6.8% of votes);
Party "Plaid Camry" of Wales - 4 seats (0.7% of votes);
Other parties - 11 seats (3.2% of the votes).
This would leave Labor with a simple majority of 176 seats in the House of Commons, while Rishi Sunak's Conservatives won the fewest seats since the party was founded in 1834, Reuters said.
According to the BBC, the voter turnout was 60%. This is the lowest percentage since 2001, when it was 59.4%. The only time voter turnout has been lower in more than 100 years was in 1918, when turnout was 57.2%.
Although Britain is a constitutional monarchy in which the king's power is strictly limited by law and tradition, much of what happened yesterday has echoes of the past. It refers to the time when the king exercised supreme power by choosing his chief minister to lead his government.
The entire royal choreography shows that the monarchy remains a symbol of stability and continuity at a time when deep divisions in British society are sparking angry political debates, notes the Associated Press. The king who stands above the seditions of politics, albeit ceremonially, still runs the political show. He will continue to do so even after the new prime minister is gone.
Although it was not reported yesterday what King Charles III and the new Prime Minister discussed, there was much activity outside the gilded gates of Buckingham Palace. News helicopters followed Sunak and Starmer's cars to the palace. Journalists followed the course of events with bated breath and speculated about what was being said behind closed doors.
Even the famous traditional changing of the guard outside Buckingham Palace was cancelled. Until suddenly the gate to the right of the central entrance opened and King Charles the Third appeared in an old-fashioned royal car to the cheers of the throngs of people who had gathered. A disbelieving child excitedly shouted: "Charles!"
Traditionally after the palace ceremony, known as the "Kissing the Hand", although in reality the hand is not kissed, the new British Prime Minister returned to "Downing Street" for his first official statement.
It was accompanied by cheers from government officials and his supporters who had gathered outside the entrance to the prime minister's office complex yesterday to show their support and welcome the incoming members of the new cabinet. One of his sympathizers had raised the blue flag of the EU.
Keir Starmer then entered through the famous black-painted door of "Downing Street" 10 to get to work and the first tasks of the new British government.