FirstFT: Labour sweeps to power in UK election

Good morning. The centre-left Labour party has secured its first victory in a UK general election in nearly two decades after the Conservative party sunk to its worst-ever result.

Sir Keir Starmer, who will become the UK’s new prime minister, declared “we can look forward again” as he prepared to take power and move into 10 Downing Street.

Liz Truss, the former prime minister, was among a clutch of high-profile Conservative MPs to lose her seat after a crushing defeat for the party that has been in government since 2010, overseeing a momentous period in British history that has seen the UK leave the EU, respond to the coronavirus pandemic and confront the war in Ukraine.

Nigel Farage, the far-right populist leader of Reform UK, secured a parliamentary seat at the eighth time of asking while the Scottish National party was reduced to a rump in the House of Commons after a series of scandals.

Labour’s performance was a personal triumph for Starmer, a former chief prosecutor, who became the party’s leader in 2020 after its worst post-war election defeat. Here’s the latest as vote counting continues.

Read more on the UK election:

• Live results: The FT breaks down the results constituency by constituency.

• Explainer: Franklin Nelson picks through the lessons on a momentous night for British politics.

• Keir Starmer: The technocratic politician who has succeeded in an era of populist politics.

• Comment: Keir Starmer stands supreme, writes Robert Shrimsley, but he cannot ignore the surge of support for Reform.

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:

• US election: Joe Biden, who yesterday admitted he “screwed up” in last week’s TV debate, is back on the campaign trail today, appearing in the swing state of Wisconsin. Later he will appear in a national television interview on ABC News and on Sunday he travels to Pennsylvania.

• Economic data: Employment data is expected to show the US economy added 190,000 new jobs last month after a rise of 272,000 in May, according to a Reuters poll of economists.

• Orbán meets Putin: Viktor Orbán is expected to meet Russia’s president today 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.

• Elections: Iranians will choose between two contrasting figures today in the Islamic republic’s first presidential run-off in two-decades. Meanwhile, France holds the second round of voting in its high-stakes parliamentary election on Sunday.

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

Five more top stories

1. Top Democratic donors have made Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom their preferred candidates to replace Joe Biden in the race against Donald Trump. The donor focus on the governors of Michigan and California reflects deepening frustration in the party with the impasse over Biden’s future.

2. Tesla cars have been included on a Chinese local government’s list of electric vehicles that can be bought by public, party and government groups for the first time. Elon Musk’s EV group is the only foreign-owned car manufacturer on the list.

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. The sudden burst of optimism came after Hamas submitted a response to the latest proposal from mediators.

4. Exclusive: A London-based private equity group 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. 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 investment industry works.

We’re also reading . . . 

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

• Edward Luce: An open Democratic convention to choose a new nominee risks being messy but could save the republic from Trump.

• 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

Abercrombie & Fitch, a star of early-2000s malls with its preppy styles and high prices, has pulled off a rare feat: a retail reinvention. Over the past year it has become one of the US stock market’s strongest performers, with its shares even outpacing those of Nvidia.

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 Tee Zhuo and Benjamin Wilhelm