Rishi Sunak, the outgoing British Prime Minister, conceded defeat to his Conservative party on Friday morning, while retaining his seat in Parliament.
Mr Sunak took 47.5% of the vote in his constituency of Richmond and Northallerton in the north of England. That is likely a relief to Mr Sunak, who was apparently worried about keeping his seat. once safe seat in the days leading up to the vote.
But it was also a dark moment, as Mr Sunak acknowledged in his acceptance speech for his seat, where his party had lost. “Labour has won this general election,” Mr Sunak said, adding that he had called Keir Starmer, the Labour leader and new prime minister, to congratulate him.
Few in Richmond expected him to be ousted from parliament. Mr Sunak’s Conservative Party has long dominated rural Yorkshire. Had he lost the election, he would have been the first sitting prime minister to lose his seat in parliament.
“If you put a conservative goat in charge of Richmond, he’d be elected,” said Lawrence Hathaway, 94. “It’s always been conservative.”
But this year, Mr Sunak, a multimillionaire whom his opponents have described as incapable of understanding the needs of ordinary people, has faced historic headwinds after 14 years of Conservative leadership. The party has presided over a tumultuous exit from the European Union and Britain has had to deal with a global economic and financial crisis. cost of living crisis for years, with inflation reaching 11.1% in 2022 and only recently returning to target levels.
Opinion polls indicated that voters were also frustrated by government mismanagement. corona virus pandemicworried about their health care system and exasperated by the leadership of Mr Sunak’s predecessor, Liz Trusswho only remained in power for 45 days.
In Richmond, some felt Mr Sunak was being blamed for problems that began before he took office and run far deeper than any prime minister could handle.
“Most people here like Rishi Sunak,” said Barbara Richmond, 70, who owns a holiday home nearby, although she does not vote in Richmond.
“For most Yorkshire people, family comes first,” she said. “And he’s a family man.”
But many have grown tired of the scandals that have marred the Conservative Party. There was “Partygate,” in which Boris Johnson and his Downing Street team broke the government’s lockdown rules during the pandemic, helping to spark Mr Johnson’s fallThere was the economic chaos unleashed by Mrs Truss’s ill-advised tax cut plan. And in recent weeks, Tory staffers have reportedly makes bets about the timing of early elections.
“I’m very exasperated,” said Carol Sheard, a pensioner in her 70s who is voting in Mr Sunak’s constituency. “It’s like a circus.”
Even some of Mr Sunak’s supporters have been lukewarm about him. During the election campaign, the prime minister made a number of missteps, including leaving D-Day commemorations early. An immense wealthy, he often seemed unable to connect with ordinary voters.
“He’s so out of touch with reality,” said John Morrison, 86. But he added that he still voted Conservative.
“Like many people, I voted for Rishi,” he said. “He is the best of a group of bad students.”
