After election debacle: Rishi Sunak resigns as party leader

After election debacle: Rishi Sunak resigns as party leader dpa 2 minutes reading time Recognizes his defeat: Rishi Sunak. After the defeat of the conservative Tories in the British parliamentary election, Rishi Sunak is drawing consequences in his party. He will resign as party leader as soon as the formal arrangements for the succession have been clarified, the former Prime Minister announced in London this morning. His Conservatives had previously achieved a historically poor result in the election to the House of Commons. The British are experiencing a political upheaval. The party lost its majority and, after almost all votes have been counted, only has 120 of 650 seats. In the last election, it won 365 seats in the House of Commons. The new Prime Minister will thus be Labour leader Keir Starmer, whose social democratic Labour Party won the election by a large margin and now has at least 412 seats. Sunak admitted his party's defeat early in the morning. Sunak apologized to voters. He gave it his all, but the verdict was clear. "I have heard your anger and your disappointment and I take responsibility for this defeat," he said. He wished his successor Keir Starmer success. Sunak moves out of Downing Street The Conservatives have governed in Great Britain for 14 years. Sunak took over the party leadership and thus the office of head of government in October 2022. He succeeded Prime Minister Liz Truss, whose policies had caused turbulence on the financial markets and who had to resign after 49 days in office. Her party colleague Boris Johnson had also previously had to resign after various scandals. According to political scientist John Curtice from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, dissatisfaction with Sunak's two predecessors was the main reason for the Tories' crushing defeat. Sunak was considered to be out of touch Sunak, who used to work in the financial sector and is married to the entrepreneur Akshata Murty, is worth millions. This also cemented his reputation for being out of touch. Sunak won his own constituency by a wide margin. Sunak said he was looking forward to spending more time in his constituency in the coming weeks. The Conservative Party will now form the opposition in the House of Commons and is facing a dispute over direction. It is expected that it will face a further shift to the right. Who will be the new opposition leader? After the heavy loss of seats, the party has been thinned out. Several potential successors have lost their seats. Among them are Defense Secretary Grant Shapps and the previous Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Penny Mordaunt. Trade Minister Kemi Badenoch, on the other hand, who has also been given good chances so far, defended her seat. She is on the right wing within the party, as is former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who is also considered a promising candidate for the party leadership. The current Home Secretary James Cleverly and the current Secretary of State Tom Tugendhat are considered more moderate potential candidates. When asked whether he would run, Cleverly gave a rather evasive answer in an interview with Sky News. The Tories are under pressure from the right, from the right-wing populist party Reform UK. Its leader Nigel Farage had lured voters on the right away with his surprise candidacy. He was once a key driver of Brexit and is considered a supporter of former US President Donald Trump. He also entered Parliament and will lead a small group of MPs. His declared aim is to take over the Conservative Party or make it redundant.