Labour sweeps to power in landslide

Good morning. Britain wakes up to a new party in power after 14 years of Conservative rule. Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party is headed for a huge majority of about 170 seats in the House of Commons after Rishi Sunak conceded defeat in the UK general election.

With the final results still streaming in, a national exit poll suggests Starmer will become prime minister with 410 out of 650 Commons seats, with the Tories holding 131 seats, the party’s worst result in its 190-year history.

Sunak, who won his seat of Richmond and Northallerton, said he took “responsibility for the loss”. A victorious Starmer had earlier declared: “The change begins right here. It’s now time for us to deliver.”

Here are other key updates from the night:

• Nigel Farage became an MP for the first time, winning Clacton in Essex. His Reform UK party ate into the Tory vote across the country.

• Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn retained his Islington North seat as an independent candidate, as have deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden and former home secretary Suella Braverman.

• Defence secretary Grant Shapps, Commons leader Penny Mordaunt and education secretary Gillian Keegan all lost their seats.

• In an eleventh-hour honours list, Sunak awarded a peerage to former prime minister Theresa May.

As Labour activists celebrate their first general election victory in nearly two decades, here’s where the other parties stand:

• Tory blame game: With the party set for its worst election defeat in history, Sunak has become the target of his colleagues’ deepening wrath.

• Reform’s rise: Robert Shrimsley’s advice to Starmer as he basks in victory: don’t ignore the role Farage’s nationalist party had to play in splitting the right.

• Lib Dems’ return: The party appears set to leap out of electoral irrelevance by reclaiming its position as the third-largest party in Westminster.

• SNP losses mount: The Scottish National party is headed for its worst result since 2010 as Labour takes a huge swath of seats in Scotland.

What happens next? Sunak is expected to quit as Conservative party leader and tender his resignation as head of government to King Charles. Follow our live election page for the latest updates, and join FT experts including Inside Politics newsletter writer Stephen Bush and Political Fix podcast host Lucy Fisher as they break down the results in our subscriber-only webinar today at 1pm BST. Register now.

And here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today and over the weekend:

• Economic data: Halifax publishes its UK house price index, while the US releases June employment data today.

• Orbán meets Putin: Viktor Orbán is expected to meet Russia’s president today just after the Hungarian leader’s first wartime visit to Kyiv in what appears to be an attempt to act as a peace broker for the war in Ukraine.

• French election: Voters head to the polls for the run-off on Sunday. Don’t miss the pre-election special edition of our Europe Express newsletter tomorrow, and submit your questions to our panel of FT experts. Tune in for their responses at lunchtime on Monday.

How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.

Five more top stories

1. France’s Rassemblement National is in talks to join a new group with Hungary’s Viktor Orbán in the European parliament as far-right parties jostle to parley their votes into power. Orbán announced last week he was seeking to form the Patriots for Europe group with Austrian and Czech parties and was looking for others to join. Here’s what this could mean for the bloc’s competing factions.

2. Top Democratic donors have made Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom their preferred candidates to replace Joe Biden in the race against Donald Trump, said several people familiar with the matter. The donor focus on the governors of Michigan and California reflects deepening frustration in the party with the impasse over Biden’s future. We have more from Washington.

• ‘I screwed up’: Speaking about his debate with Donald Trump, Biden told a local radio station he “had a bad night” but insisted he would press ahead with his re-election bid.

3. The US believes there is a “significant opening” to finalise a deal between Israel and Hamas to halt the nine-month war in Gaza and secure the release of Israeli hostages held in the strip, according to a senior administration official. Speaking after Biden held a 30-minute call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, the official said “we have had a breakthrough on a critical impasse”.

4. Exclusive: A London-based private equity firm is preparing to launch a private members’ club in a historic Milanese villa, aiming to compete with the likes of Soho House after a wave of wealthy expats poured into Italy’s financial and fashion capital. Three Hills Capital Partners is planning to open the club in October. Here are more details on the new venture.

5. Former pariahs in emerging markets have been among the world’s best-performing stock markets this year as investors bet reforms in troubled economies such as Argentina and Pakistan will help them leave the worst of their currency woes behind them. Investors say these so-called frontier markets have been attractive because of their cheap valuations.

The Big Read

The investment world has been hoovering up mathematicians to devise new trading strategies for years. But now, the industry is leaning on political scientists for guidance. On the surface, it is not hard to see why given the flurry of elections and conflicts taking place around the world. Increasingly, many senior executives believe the world is going through not just a temporary bout of political volatility but a structural shift that will have a long-term impact on how the industry works.

We’re also reading . . . 

• French election: Snap polls have further strained Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim communities, with worries about rising intolerance and racism in an increasingly polarised society.

• Cycling: The industry has hit a speed bump as people take up other activities after the pandemic and rising living costs damp spending.

• AI: ChatGPT has the appearance of a brilliant logician that has all the right answers even when they’re wrong, writes Tim Harford.

• Football and politics: Following the England team at Euro 2024 in Germany, Gideon Rachman watches new football stars emerge in the shadow of war and a resurgent far right.

Chart of the day

Official candidate lists for Sunday’s run-off show that Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National will take part in more than 350 two-way races after leftist and centrist parties pulled hundreds of candidates from the second round in a co-ordinated attempt to keep the far right out of power. Expectations of RN winning the 289 seats required for an absolute majority have fallen, but such projections have been wrong before.

Take a break from the news

How much cash would it take for you to quit your job? The question of how one might respond to a financial windfall is a fun thought experiment, with a pretty rich area of research. But economists are now turning to new, simpler ways of finding out, writes Soumaya Keynes.

Additional contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm and Gordon Smith