Labour’s first day in energy: Starmer’s first speech as Prime Minister

More than 5,000 days have passed since Labour were last in Government. But Keir Starmer wasted no time in laying down the first tentative steps towards change yesteday as he selected his cabinet and assured voters he would begin to rebuild trust with a ‘country-first, party-second’ brand of politics.

As outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak left Number 10, Sir Keir arrived with an invitation from the King to form a new government. He thanked Mr Sunak for his ‘dedication and hard work’, and commended his ‘achievement as the first British Asian Prime Minister of our country’. 

Focus soon turned to the need for change, a ‘renewal and a return of politics to public service’. Sir Keir insisted he would prove to voters that politics ‘can be a force for good’ – but acknowledged it would ‘take a while’ to ‘change’ the country. ‘But have no doubt that the work of change begins immediately,’ the 61-year-old said.

Indeed, by Friday evening reports emerged that the Tory flagship ‘Rwanda scheme’ was effectively ‘dead’ – consistent with Labour’s promises to scrap it if elected. Britain is still expected to pay various fees associated with the treaty – but reserves the right to leave with three months’ notice. Kigali is expected to comment as early as Saturday.

Then followed the ministerial appointments. Rachel Reeves became the UK’s first female chancellor. Yvette Cooper also made a lateral move into the Home Secretary role, and David Lammy became Foreign Secretary.

Veteran Labour politician Emily Thornberry was snubbed as Sir Keir appointed Richard Hermer KC as Attorney General, despite Ms Thornberry having previously shadowed the role.

The new Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, fulfilled a promise made in June to reach out to junior doctors ‘on day one’, setting in motion a path for negotiations over pay and conditions with the aim of getting the NHS back on its feet. Mr Streeting was ready to admit ‘the NHS is broken’ and admitted change would not come immediately – but was optimistic about Labour’s ability to oversee substantial reform.

As the new cabinet began laying the groundwork for the party’s vision of change, Sir Keir spoke with world leaders, who congratulated his appointment as the 58th Prime Minister. French President Emmanuel Macron revealed he had already spoken to the Labour leader on Thursday night in a congratulatory message on Twitter/X.

Within hours, Sir Keir had held calls with US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, reiterating his government’s support for Kyiv‘s resistance against Vladimir Putin‘s invasion.

After giving his historic first speech as 58th Prime Minister following Labour’s landslide general election win on Thursday night, Sir Keir and his wife, Lady Victoria, disappeared inside Number 10 to be welcomed by Downing Street staff.

Soon after, smiling faces emerged from the building as the Prime Minister appointed his top team of ministers. 

Rachel Reeves became Britain’s first female Chancellor, while David Lammy was appointed the new Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper the new Home Secretary, and Wes Streeting the new Health Secretary.

All of them enjoyed introductory tours of their new Whitehall departments as the met with officials. But they were also immediately challenged by the myriad of crises they will have to battle over the coming weeks and months.

Union bosses this evening demanded Mr Streeting come forward with a ‘credible’ offer to end the junior doctors’ dispute on pay, as they eye a 35 per cent wage hike.

Mr Streeting faces major challenges overhauling the NHS with the junior doctors’ pay dispute still haunting the service and technological inefficiency a recurring complaint from insiders – but experts say his previous comments indicate he may be the man for the job.

Mr Lammy vowed to support an ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Gaza after witnessing an election backlash in some parts of the country over Labour’s stance on the Middle East conflict.

In a speech to Treasury staff, Ms Reeves promised to boost Britain’s economic growth as her ‘central mission’.

And Ms Cooper pledged to set up a new ‘Border Security Command’ to tackle the Channel migrant crisis, as she prepares to scrap the Tories’ Rwanda deportation scheme.

Labour insiders told The Telegraph on Friday the plan was effectively ‘dead’ – but Ms Cooper assured one of the first duties of government was to ‘keep our borders secure’ through the security force. 

‘If Rishi Sunak thought Rwanda would work, he wouldn’t have called an election,’ the source told the newspaper. ‘It was a con. By calling an election, Sunak was acknowledging that fact.’

Sir Keir made two eye-catching ministerial appointments this evening as he drafted in Sir Patrick Vallance, who was the Government’s chief scientific adviser during the Covid crisis, as a science minister.

He also named James Timpson, chief executive of his father’s Timpsons shoe repair chain business, as minister for prisons, parole and probation. Both he and Sir Patrick have been handed peerages by the new PM.

But, as of this evening, there was no place for Emily Thornberry in Sir Keir’s new Government.

Despite her having served as shadow attorney general in opposition, she was overlooked for the role of Attorney General in favour of Richard Hermer KC, who was also handed a peerage.

It comes after Ms Thornberry caused embarrassment for Sir Keir during the general election campaign with her admission that Labour’s plan to charge VAT on private school fees risks increasing class sizes in the state sector.

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Sir Keir made his Cabinet appointments after earlier stepping through the entrance to No10 as the new Labour premier with a vow to ‘immediately’ begin work to ‘rebuild Britain’ after winning a huge majority.

The Labour leader was applauded by staff inside the famous black door as he walked inside with wife Victoria after making his first address to the nation as the new premier.

The 61-year-old acknowledged ‘weariness at the heart of the nation’ after his so-called ‘loveless landslide’ in the general election, which saw Labour win more than 400 seats having received barely one in three votes across the UK.

Among their demands to Mr Streeting tonight, the British Medical Association said the junior doctors’ dispute ‘must be brought to an ened via a credible Government offer’.

They offered the Health Secretary hope of a possible resolution as they conceded that ‘pay restoration doesn’t have to be in one go’.

Mr Streeting has previously warned Labour won’t be able to afford the BMA’s demand for a 35 per cent pay rise for junior doctors.

The Health Secretary later announced he had spoken to BMA bosses and ‘talks to end their industrial action will begin next week’. 

In a statement shared on Friday, the British Medical Association trade union for doctors opened the door to future negotiations, showing promising signs.

Professor Philip Banfield, BMA chair of council, said in a statement that he had offered Mr Streeting to ‘work together to get the NHS back on its feet’ with the aim of resolving disputes, writing down waiting lists and improving the service for both staff and patients.

‘We have heard your commitment to pay restoration as a journey and put our faith in your intentions to work together towards a resolution,’ Professor Banfield said in an optimistic letter.

Despite Labour’s widespread success across Britain in the general election, they lost a handful of former strongholds to independent candidates campaigning on pro-Gaza platforms.

In one of the biggest shocks of election night, shadow minister Jonathan Ashworth lost his Leicester South seat, which he previously won with a majority of more than 22,000 votes.

Speaking to broadcasters after being appointed as Foreign Secretary, Mr Lammy said: ‘All of us recognise the agony of communities who have seen the scenes coming out of Israel and Gaza.

‘But the job now is to get to work with tireless diplomacy to support an immediate ceasefire and move towards getting those hostages out.’

Ms Reeves, a self-confessed ‘geek’ and schoolgirl chess champion, is one of Sir Keir’s closest allies and will be the first woman to lead the Treasury in its 1,000-year history. 

The new Chancellor told her new department’s staff that the Labour Government would work ‘hand in glove with business’ as she vowed its ‘central mission’ would be to boost economic growth.

In a swipe at her Tory predecessors, Ms Reeves also pledged to change the ‘uncertainty’ and lack of ‘clarity of political purpose’ Treasury staff had previously had to endure.

Ms Cooper also blasted the Conservatives’ record as she spoke outside the Home Office, saying: ‘We know there are a lot of challenges ahead and after 14 years there is some difficult legacy that we will inherit, and we know that that will mean hard graft and not gimmicks ahead in order to tackle that.’

She added that setting up a ‘new Border Security Command to go after the criminal boat gangs’ would be among her ‘first steps’ as Home Secretary.

This afternoon, Angela Rayner had been the first arrival in Downing Street before being named Deputy Prime Minister.

She was also appointed Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary as she was handed a portfolio focused on her party’s planned housebuilding blitz.

Ms Rayner was later followed into Downing Street by Mr Lammy, Ms Cooper and John Healey. They were duly appointed as Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary and Defence Secretary, respectively.

Sir Keir made an almost wholesale transfer of the shadow team he had in opposition into his Cabinet following Labour’s massive general election victory.

Mr Streeting was named Health Secretary, Shabana Mahmood became Justice Secretary, Bridget Phillipson was appointed Education Secretary, and Ed Miliband made a return to ministerial office as Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary.

The former Labour leader is set to oversee his party’s promise to decarbonise Britain’s electricity grid by 2030.

In a further raft of appointments, Sir Keir named Liz Kendall as Work and Pensions Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds as Business and Trade Secretary, Peter Kyle as Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary, and Louise Haigh as Transport Secretary. 

Lisa Nandy was appointed Culture Secretary as Sir Keir moved to fill a vacancy left by Thangam Debbonaire, who had shadowed the portfolio in opposition but failed to get re-elected to the House of Commons.

Steve Reed was appointed Environment Secretary, Ian Murray became Scottish Secretary, Hilary Benn was named Northern Ireland Secretary, and Jo Stevens was named Welsh Secretary.

Speaking after her appointment as Chancellor, Ms Reeves posted on X: ‘Economic growth was the Labour Party’s mission. It is now a national mission. Let’s get to work.’

She added: ‘To every young girl and woman reading this, let today show that there should be no limit to your ambitions.’

In her first address to Treasury staff, Ms Reeves vowed to change the ‘uncertainty’ and lack of ‘clarity of political purpose’ from her Tory predecessors.

She told them: ‘I know that a lot has been asked of you in the last few years – and I know, when the chips are down, staff at the Treasury have risen to the occasion, from furlough to energy price support.

‘I have often disagreed with the political choices that have been taken in this building. But I have never been in any doubt about the talent, the dedication and the professionalism that Treasury staff have displayed.

‘I know too that at times it must have been frustrating for you, working under a weight of uncertainty, changes in direction, and without clarity of political purpose. As Chancellor, I am determined to change that.’

Mr Lammy, an ardent Remainer who once compared Tory Brexiteers to Nazis, described being appointed as Foreign Secretary as ‘the honour of my life’.

He added: ‘The world faces huge challenges, but we will navigate them with the UK’s enormous strengths.

‘We will reconnect Britain for our security and prosperity at home.’

Speaking to reporters later, Mr Lammy said he wants to see an ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Gaza.

‘All of us recognise the agony of communities who have seen the scenes coming out of Israel and Gaza,’ he told broadcasters.

‘But the job now is to get to work with tireless diplomacy to support an immediate ceasefire and move towards getting those hostages out.’

A crowd of jubilant Labour activists had earlier cheered Sir Keir’s arrival into Downing Street after he was formally installed as Britain’s 58th PM by King Charles.

He and Victoria received a rapturous welcome after returning from the Palace where he had an audience with His Majesty around noon, shortly after Rishi Sunak exited having tendered his resignation. 

Sir Keir said he wanted to ‘changed the country’ but warned it will ‘take a while’, saying he wanted to restore the values of ‘service’ to politics. He admitted that many people did not believe he would improve the country.

‘My government will fight every day until you believe again,’ he said. 

At Buckingham Palace the couple were welcomed by the King and Queen’s principal private secretary Sir Clive Alderton, along with Charles’s equerry Royal Navy Commander William Thornton.

They left 20 minutes later to head to Downing Street, after Sir Keir was appointed to the job.

Buckingham Palace said in a statement: ‘The King received in Audience The Right Honourable Sir Keir Starmer MP today and requested him to form a new Administration. 

‘Sir Keir accepted His Majesty’s offer and kissed hands upon his appointment as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury.’ 

The time-honoured choreography comes as Sir Keir’s majority ticks up to 174, just short of Tony Blair’s 179 in 1997. The Tories have 121 with just two left to declare, far worse than their previous nadir of 156 in 1906.

The Lib Dems also inflicted massive pain on the Conservatives, racking up a record 71 seats as Reform leeched millions of votes and came second in around a hundred constituencies – but only scored four MPs of their own. 

However, Labour’s victory is being dubbed a ‘loveless landslide’ and a ‘super meh-jority’, having received barely one in three votes across the UK.

Polling experts highlighted how Labour’s vote share of 33.8 per cent is likely to be less than any of Sir Tony‘s general election victories in 1997, 2001 or 2005.

It is even less than the 40 per cent vote share hard-left Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn secured in 2017 and lower than the 36.1 per cent David Cameron got for the Conservatives in 2010 when that year’s election ended in a hung parliament.

Some newly-elected Labour MPs suggested the public will be thinking about overhauling Britain’s voting system in the wake of the party’s triumph, while Corbyn’s allies swiped that Sir Keir had won ‘by default’ due to the dramatic collapse in Conservative support.

Less than an hour before Sir Keir arrived at the Palace, Mr Sunak bade goodbye to Downing Street after leading the Tories to their worst ever election result. 

Flanked by clearly emotional wife Akshata, the PM delivered his parting statement outside the famous black door saying he was ‘sorry’ and had ‘heard the anger’ of the country and the ‘clear message’ of the ballot. 

Sir Keir trumpeted his victory at a rally in central London in the early hours after the party formally crested the 325 seats needed to control the Commons, saying ‘we did it!’ 

Sealing his triumph with a kiss from Victoria, he said the British people had ‘voted to turn the page’ on 14 years of Conservative rule – and delivered a riposte to his critics saying there was ‘nothing inevitable’ about the outcome. 

In a jaw-dropping moment, Liz Truss was among the casualties – giving up a monumental 24,000 majority as she was edged out by Labour in South West Norfolk.  

Earlier, Penny Mordaunt and Grant Shapps fell victims to a brutal Tory cull as Labour swept towards election victory.

A glum-looking Defence Secretary suffered a ‘Portillo Moment’ as he was defeated by Labour in Welwyn Hatfield by around 3,000 votes.

In his parting shot, Mr Shapps said the Conservatives had ‘lost’ the election rather than Labour winning it – and ‘tried the patience’ of the public by being divided.

In other rollercoaster developments:

• The Greens have enjoyed a bumper night winning four seats, adding three to their tally from 2019; 
• Labour’s overall support in Britain has only gone up by 2 per cent, according to polling guru John Curtice, and that is entirely due to a 17 point boost in Scotland; 
• Reform has racked up votes and nearly 100 second places, but fallen short of breakthroughs predicted in the initial exit poll;
• The SNP has been among the biggest losers, facing being slashed to nine MPs, meaning they would no longer be the biggest party in Scotland;
• George Galloway has been ousted by Labour’s Paul Waugh in Rochdale, after winning the seat in a by-election previously; 
• Turnout has been far lower than at the last few general elections; 
• The Lib Dems claimed victory in Tunbridge Wells, which has been Tory since the seat was created in the 1970s, in Boris Johnson’s old seat of Henley and in David Cameron’s stronghold of Witney;
• The 2024 general election results in full: Live maps and charts 

On the steps of Downing Street, Sir Keir said Britain had ‘voted decisively for change, for national renewal and a return of politics to public service’.

‘When the gap between the sacrifices made by people and the service they receive from politicians grows this big, it leads to a weariness in the heart of a nation, a draining away of the hope, the spirit, the belief in a better future,’ he said.

‘But we need to move forward together. Now this wound, this lack of trust can only be healed by actions not words, I know that.

‘But we can make a start today with the simple acknowledgement that public service is a privilege and that your government should treat every single person in this country with respect.’

He said: ‘Changing a country is not like flicking a switch. The world is now a more volatile place. This will take a while.

‘But have no doubt that the work of change begins immediately. Have no doubt that we will rebuild Britain, with wealth created in every community. Our NHS back on its feet facing the future. Secure borders, safer streets, everyone treated with dignity and respect at work. The opportunity of clean British power, cutting your energy bills for good.

‘Brick by brick, we will rebuild the infrastructure of opportunity. The world-class schools and colleges, the affordable homes that I know are the ingredients of hope for working people. The security, the working-class families like mine could build their lives around.’

Sir Keir promised a government ‘unburdened by doctrine’ and to fight for people’s belief in a brighter future.

The Labour leader said: ‘If I asked you now whether you believe that Britain will be better for your children, I know too many of you would say no.

‘So, my Government will fight every day until you believe again.

‘From now on, you have a Government unburdened by doctrine, guided only by the determination to serve your interest, to defy quietly those who have written our country off.

‘You have given us a clear mandate and we will use it to deliver change, to restore service and respect to politics.’

In his valedictory speech, Mr Sunak said: ‘I have given this job my all. But you have sent a clear message, and yours is the only judgement that matters. 

‘This is a difficult day, but I leave this job honoured to have been Prime Minister of the best country in the world.’

Mr Sunak said he would resign as Tory leader once a replacement had been chosen. He also paid tribute to Sir Keir as a public servant, wishing him and his family well in their new duties.

After his short speech the couple – not accompanied by their daughters and with Akshata carrying an umbrella – walked to a waiting car and were driven away to the Palace.  

Polling expert Sir John Curtice noted how Labour’s vote share was expected to be up by just under two percentage points across the country from 2019.

He said Labour’s victory was ‘largely on the back of a dramatic 20 point decline in Conservative support’. 

In an article for the BBC, Sir John added the increase in Labour’s vote share was ‘entirely as a result of a 17 point increase in support in Scotland’.

‘In Wales, the party’s vote has actually fallen back by four points, while in England the party’s vote is largely unchanged from 2019,’ he wrote.

‘It is possible that Labour will secure its landslide on a lower share of the vote (35 per cent in Great Britain) than any of Tony Blair’s victories, including the 36 per cent the party won in 2005.

‘That itself was hitherto the lowest share of the vote won by a majority single party government. In many ways, this looks more like an election the Conservatives have lost than one Labour has won.’

Asked about her party’s low vote share but huge majority, Labour MP Dawn Butler said: ‘I think what the discussion will be about will be proportional representation.

‘The public will be talking about proportional representation and whether we need to have a debate about it. I’ve always said that we do need to have a debate about it.’

Channel 4 political editor Gary Gibbon said: ‘That massive figure has been delivered with a relatively small percentage of the people.

‘That looks like love but that is a loveless landslide. There has not been the sort of enthusiasm that you might expect out there.’

Mr Corbyn’s former spokesman, Matt Zarb-Cousin, said: ‘Labour is already peddling a narrative that this victory is down to a changed Labour Party.

‘The reality of course is Keir Starmer was holding the pass the parcel at the right time, when the Tories eventually imploded. So they’ve won by default, on a lower share of the vote than 2017.’

Welsh Secretary David Davies, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, Science minister Michelle Donelan, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan and Justice Secretary Alex Chalk were beaten during a traumatic night for the Tories.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt barely survived in Godalming & Ash. Altogether at least 16 ministers have gone, with Johnny Mercer and Therese Coffey beaten by Labour.

Jacob Rees-Mogg also tumbled in North East Somerset and Hanham. However, former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith surprised many by clinging on in Chingford.

There are now no Tory MPs in Wales after Craig Williams, a former Tory aide to Mr Sunak, came third in Mongomeryshire as an independent after being embroiled in a gambling row over the date of the election.

However, there were notable setbacks for Labour with frontbencher Jonathan Ashworth losing to a pro-Gaza independent in Leicester, and shadow health secretary Wes Streeting barely fending off a similar challenge.

Another shadow cabinet minister, Thangam Debonaire, was picked off by the Greens in Bristol Central. 

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage finally enters Parliament in Clacton after his eighth attempt to become an MP, while his party colleague Lee Anderson has retained Ashfield, Rupert Lowe won Great Yarmouth and Richard Tice scooped Boston and Skegness. 

In his speech at the Tate Modern art gallery, Sir Keir said: ‘It feels good, I have to be honest. Four-and-a-half years of work changing the party, this is what it is for – a changed Labour Party ready to serve our country, ready to restore Britain to the service of working people.

‘And across our country, people will be waking up to the news, relief that a weight has been lifted, a burden finally removed from the shoulders of this great nation.

‘And now we can look forward, walk into the morning, the sunlight of hope, pale at first but getting stronger through the day, shining once again, on a country with the opportunity after 14 years to get its future back.’

At his acceptance speech after being re-elected in Richmond and Northallerton, Mr Sunak said: ‘The Labour Party has won this General Election and I have called Sir Keir Starmer to congratulate him on his victory.’

Mr Sunak added: ‘The British people have delivered a sobering verdict tonight, there is much to learn… and I take responsibility for the loss.’

The Labour leader said ‘change begins now’ as he was re-elected in Holborn & St Pancras, but his own majority was reduced by a left-wing independent. 

Mr Shapps was the first confirmed Cabinet casualty and he hit out at the Tory ‘soap opera’ which had turned off voters.

‘On door after door, voters have been dismayed by our inability to iron out our differences in private and do that and then be united in public,’ he said.

‘Instead we have tried the patience of traditional Conservative voters with a propensity to create an endless political soap opera out of internal rivalries and divisions which have become increasingly indulgent and entrenched.’

He said there was a danger the Tory party could ‘go off on some tangent, condemning ourselves to years of lacklustre opposition’.

Ms Mordaunt, who is likely to have been a leadership contender if she had survived, said her party had taken a ‘battering because it failed to honour the trust that people had placed in it’.

She too warned against a retreat to the right: ‘Our renewal as a party and a country will not be achieved by us talking to an ever smaller slice of ourselves but being guided by the people of our country. And if we want again to be the natural party of government, then our values must be the people’s.

Former home secretary Suella Braverman, who will now be considered a leading contender to replace Mr Suank, said the party had let the British people down.

‘You, the great British people, voted for us over 14 years and we did not keep our promises,’ she said.

‘I will do everything in my power to rebuild trust.

‘We need to listen to you, you have spoken to us very clearly.’

Party chair Ric Holden won a desperate struggle for Basildon & Billericay, emerging on top by just 20 votes after a series of recounts.  

Mr Sunak is expected to announce he is quitting as leader but stay on until a replacement is chosen. 

Ex-home secretary Suella Braverman, at her count, said she was ‘sorry’ for the behaviour of her party and how it had abandoned core supporters’ values. 

Sir Keir’s ally Lord Mandelson gloated that he was ‘gobsmacked’ and an ‘electoral meteor’ had ‘struck planet Earth’. He said it would have required a ‘superman’ to save the Tories and Rishi Sunak ‘is not superman’.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting was in tears as he was told the figures on live TV. 

A dire campaign for Mr Sunak came stuttering to a halt last night, with the PM making a series more defensive visits in the South East.

He now faces being out of Downing Street this morning.

Former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson told Sky News that it looked like a ‘massacre’.

The Tories have quickly plunged into a dangerous new phase of crisis, with questions over whether it can even survive amid the challenge from Reform.

A former Cabinet minister – who regarded their own significant majority as under threat – said Mr Sunak had ‘knifed’ Boris Johnson and would be remembered as the ‘worst PM ever’. 

In the first tangible evidence of the hammering, Labour‘s Heidi Alexander took ex-Cabinet minister Robert Buckland‘s Swindon South seat with a 9,000 majority. 

But Sir Robert gave a stark warning against the Tories lurching to the right, saying the party risked being like ‘bald men fighting over a comb’ if it treated politics as ‘performance art’ and tried to outflank Reform. 

Sir John Curtice told the BBC: ‘It looks as though Reform may win more seats than many polls suggested.

‘This is largely because, not only has the Conservative vote fallen far in seats they previously held, but also because Reform has advanced most in areas people voted Leave in the 2016 EU referendum.

‘However, how many seats Reform will win is highly uncertain – our model suggests there are many places where they have some – but a relatively low – chance of winning.’

Mr Farage hailed signs of a breakthrough after Reform pushed the Tories into third place in two early constituency results.

On a video posted to X he said: ‘It’s midnight, there are two results in from the north-east of England that put Reform on 30 per cent of the vote, that is way more than any possible prediction or projection. It is almost unbelievable.

‘And what does it mean? It means we’re going to win seats, many many seats I think right now across the country.

‘But to watch the TV coverage it’s almost comical. There’s not a single representative on there from Reform UK, mainstream media are in denial just as much as our political parties.

‘This is going to be six million votes-plus. This, folks, is huge.’

A Conservative spokesman said they had to wait for the full outcome, but added: ‘If these results are correct it is clear that Starmer and Angela Rayner will be in Downing Street tomorrow.’ 

Conservatives with big majorities had become increasingly nervous during the day, despite CCHQ claiming that higher-than-expected turnout could help them.

One former Cabinet minister told MailOnline: ‘There appears to be a bigger turnout than normal in some of my areas. Not all though.

‘That would seem to indicate a determination on the part of the electorate to make their views heard, almost certainly likely to be against the Tories.’

Former Labour leader Lord Neil Kinnock said the exit poll’s landslide prediction was ‘the greatest comeback since Lazarus’.

The former Labour leader told ITV News: ‘A gain of 208, according to the exit poll, which is attributable directly to Keir Starmer and what he’s achieved in four years, two of which of course were during the lockdown, or the virtual lockdown when the one thing that opposition leaders depend on – contact with the public – was absent.

‘It’s the biggest comeback since Lazarus.’

He went on: ‘I must say I’m just ecstatic about the fact that an entirely dependable, fully grown-up guy, Keir Starmer, and his wife, are going to go through that door tomorrow. I have unalloyed and unreserved delight.’

Less than an hour before the exit poll dropped, Downing Street released a dissolution honours list – sending seven Tories and eight Labour politicians to the Lords. They include Theresa May, Rishi Sunak’s chief aide Liam Booth-Smith, Chris Grayling and former 1922 committee chair Graham Brady.

Harriet Harman and Margaret Beckett are among those on the Labour list – despite Sir Keir having committed to abolishing the Upper House. 

Mr Sunak took a huge political gamble and shocked Westminster by triggering the election on May 22, rather than waiting until the Autumn as had been widely expected.

It initially looked to be paying off, with early policies from the Tory campaign – such as national citizen service – seeming to cut through.

In a big moment, Mr Farage responded by ruling out standing as a Reform candidate, admitting he did not have time to put together a campaign.

But even then the Tories did not see a real bounce in the polls. The Tories lost key legislation including Mr Sunak’s flagship smoking ban during the ‘wash-up’ as Parliament was dissolved for the campaign.

And then a grim week in early June saw things go spectacularly downhill, with Mr Farage dropping the bombshell that had changed his mind and was taking over the leadership of Reform as well as standing to be MP for Clacton.

Although Mr Sunak was seen as landing blows on Sir Keir over tax during their first TV debate on June 4, disaster struck when the PM opted to return early from D-Day anniversary commemorations in France to conduct an interview with ITV.

A subsequent grovelling apology did not prevent Mr Farage and opponents seizing on the blunder, which struck right at the heart of the Tory goal of shoring up the core vote among older generations.

With polls already showing Reform eating into Tory support with potent attacks on immigration, Mr Sunak was then engulfed in another scandal.

It emerged that his closest Parliamentary aide, Craig Williams had successfully placed bets on the date of the snap election – although he insisted he did not have any inside information.

Other candidates and top party officials were then dragged into the allegations, which proved particularly toxic with the public. 

Mr Sunak was memorably challenged on the issue during TV appearances, admitting he was ‘incredibly angry’. But he was seen as taking far too long to withdraw support for candidates facing allegations.

With some polls even showing Reform ahead of the Tories, CCHQ shifted tactics to warn of the threat of a divided Right handing Labour a ‘supermajority’ with untrammeled power.

That together with controversial remarks from Mr Farage about the West ‘provoking’ Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and revelations about unsavoury comments by a series of Reform candidates looked to have stopped the bleeding.

But after a bruising six weeks Labour’s huge advantage was intact, and the only significant change was that the Tories had lost ground to Reform. 

By yesterday, despite Mr Sunak’s claim he was ‘fighting hard for every vote’, his close ally Mel Stride was effectively acknowledging the Conservatives would lose – an unprecedented step. 

The Work and Pensions Secretary said Labour would get an ‘extraordinary landslide on a scale that has probably never, ever been seen in this country before’. 

As tension built through election day, the Tories claimed a higher-than-expected turnout had left them with a ‘MUCH better chance’ than cataclysmic polls had suggested.

An email to Conservative supporters, signed from the ‘CCHQ Data Team’, read: ‘We’re getting reports from our teams on the ground. And the more reports we get, the more it looks like turnout is higher than expected.

‘That means we could have a MUCH better chance than polls have suggested. So if you haven’t voted yet, now’s the time to get out.’

Queues of people were seen at polling stations on Thursday as the requirement for voters to bring correct photo identification – such as a passport or driving licence – was enforced at a UK general election for the first time.

There was a bungle at a Glasgow polling station this morning as voters were met with posters listing the wrong instructions, which erroneously advised the ranking of candidates in order of preference.

This is how ballots are cast in local elections in Scotland, which use the single transferable vote system. But general elections use the first-past-the-post system, which requires voters to put a single ‘X’ next to their chosen candidate.

Glasgow City Council explained the error was spotted ‘very soon’ after the polling station opened at 7am and the posters were replaced with the correct information. It said no-one had been disenfranchised as voters’ first preferences would be used from the affected ballots.

Cabinet minister Kemi Badenoch this afternoon blasted her own local council for having ‘potentially disenfranchised’ thousands of postal voters who did not receive their ballot papers.

The Business Secretary hit out at Uttlesford District Council for ‘forgetting’ to send postal votes to 2,600 people in her North West Essex seat.

Prior to polls opening this morning, Rishi Sunak made an 11th-hour plea for voters to prevent a ‘socialist supermajority’ wrecking Britain, as he repeated his warning against handing Sir Keir ‘unchecked’ power.