Labour's Keir Starmer takes office as UK's 58th Prime Minister

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer became the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on Friday, replacing Rishi Sunak, who had resigned just moments earlier. Starmer is the 58th Prime Minister in the country's history.

At noon Eastern Time, Keir Starmer was received in an audience by King Charles III, who entrusted him— as the leader of the victorious party in the election— with the mission of forming a government.

In Thursday's elections to the House of Commons, the Labour Party won 412 seats, giving them a comfortable majority and marking their second-best result in history. The Labour Party has been in opposition since losing the election in May 2010.

"We did it. You campaigned, you fought for it— and now it's here. Change starts now," said Starmer at dawn on Friday, just after the Labour Party secured its 326th seat in Thursday's election, guaranteeing an overall majority in the House of Commons.

Over 46 million citizens who registered to vote were eligible to cast ballots. They voted in approximately 40,000 polling stations to elect 650 members of the House of Commons. 4,515 candidates were vying for seats, the highest number in history; 459 ran as independents, while the rest represented 98 political parties, which is also a record.

The newly appointed Prime Minister was born in 1962 in London but grew up in the small town of Oxted, south of the British capital. The Labour Party leader often emphasizes his working-class background— his father was a toolmaker, and his mother worked as a nurse. His mother suffered from Still's disease, a rare autoimmune disorder that eventually left her unable to speak or walk.