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2024 UK ELECTION

Starmer: Britain’s next prime minister?
AFP, London
Labour leader Keir Starmer is a former human rights lawyer turned-state prosecutor whose ruthless ambition and formidable work ethic look set to propel him to Britain’s highest political office.
The 61-year-old, named after Labour’s founding father Keir Hardie, is the centre-left opposition party’s most working-class leader in decades.
“My dad was a toolmaker, my mum was a nurse,” Starmer tells voters often, countering depictions by opponents that he is the epitome of a smug, liberal, London elite.
With his grey quiff and black-rimmed glasses, Starmer remains an enigma in the eyes of many voters, who are predicted to propel him to Downing Street after today’s general election.
Detractors label him an uninspiring opportunist, but supporters insist he is a managerial pragmatist who will approach being prime minister the same way he did his legal career: tirelessly and forensically.
“Politics has to be about service,” Starmer said in a recent campaign speech, repeating his mantra to put “country first, party second” following 14 years of Conservative rule under five different prime ministers.
Sometimes appearing uncomfortable in the spotlight, the devoted Arsenal fan, who came to politics late in life, has struggled to shed his public image as buttoned-up and boring.

Sunak: Conservative leader still hoping for unlikely win
AFP, London
The UK Conservatives hoped Rishi Sunak would stabilise the party and country when they made him leader following his predecessors’ chaotic tenures. Instead, he has led them to the brink of electoral wipeout.
The party’s MPs installed the 44-year-old former financier in October 2022, after Liz Truss’s 49-day premiership imploded when spooked markets moved against her tax-slashing plans.
Sunak succeeded to a point in stabilising the country’s economy, but failed to stop bitter Tory infighting, or to make a dent in the persistent polling lead held by the opposition Labour Party. Buoyed by rare pieces of economic good news, Sunak called today’s election in late May, despite not having to face the voters until early 2025.
He hoped the shock announcement would catch right-wingers Reform UK by surprise, and Labour’s 20-point polling lead would shrink during the campaign.
But Sunak’s campaign has lurched from one disaster to another.
By far the most damaging was Sunak’s decision to leave early from D-Day commemoration events in France, provoking unilateral outrage and alienating right wing whose votes he desperately needs.