WORLD BRIEFING: July 5, 2024

Britain’s Labour Party won a landslide election victory Friday morning, sweeping the Conservative Party out of power after 14 years in an anti-incumbent revolt that heralded a new era in British politics. The outgoing prime minister, Rishi Sunak, appearing tired and somber, conceded his party’s national defeat in the early morning hours, shortly before the Labour Party’s parliamentary majority was confirmed. “I’m sorry…this is a difficult day,” Mr. Sunak said from the steps of Downing Street before heading to Buckingham Palace to deliver his formal resignation to King Charles III.

Earlier, Sunak said that he had called Keir Starmer, the Labour leader and incoming prime minister to congratulate him. Mr. Starmer, appearing before a crowd of supporters, promised to “rebuild our country,” adding: “Change begins now.” Partial results indicated that Labour was on course to win more than 400 of the 650 seats in the British House of Commons, versus less than 150 for the Conservatives. That would be the worst defeat for the Conservatives in the nearly 200-year history of the party, raising questions about its future. Reform U.K., an insurgent, anti-immigration party, was projected to win four seats but a significant share of the vote, a robust performance that came at the expense of the Conservatives. The magnitude of the Tory defeat will reverberate through Britain for months, if not years. - NYT

Starmer hailed a “new age of hope and opportunity.” The Labour leader said he was “ready for government” and that his intended cabinet would “hit the ground running.” He promised a flurry of activity should he enter No 10, saying he would push back the parliamentary recess to get his legislative programme under way. Starmer said he had told his shadow cabinet they will not be forgiven if did not show results immediately. He said he had told them: “I don’t want you having a phone call or a meeting the day after the election that you could have had six months before the election.” - The Guardian

Starmer won’t actually become prime minister until a carefully choreographed ceremony on Friday during which King Charles III will formally ask him to form a new government, the AP reported. And separately, Liz Truss has become the first former prime minister for almost 90 years to lose their seat at a general election, losing by 630 votes, the FT reported.

Finally, The Economist said today in a lead editorial, Starmer won’t have much of a honeymoon period with the UK in such a mess. Get something built quickly like a high speed rail line it suggests. “With a huge majority, continued discipline and a mandate to pursue growth, all these things are possible. If Sir Keir can improve Britain’s chronic low productivity and raise the efficiency of the British state, then he may offer a lesson to centrists elsewhere: not just how to win power, but how to use it. It starts by him seizing the moment.”

Only days into it taking over the rotating presidency of the European Council and Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán has drawn the ire of Brussels for his unscheduled visit to Vladimir Putin in Moscow. It follows a surprise meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Monday where the two were said to have had a relatively cordial meeting; considering Orban's flat refusal to provide political or military support for war-torn Ukraine. As soon as reports of the Moscow trip emerged, president of the European Council Charles Michel hit out at Orbán reminding him he has "no mandate" to negotiate on the behalf on the EU during his tenure. Meanwhile Hungarian officials have told Euronews the government's policy in Ukraine is that 'both parties' need to negotiate an end to the conflict, and that there was 'no military solution'. However, one official conceded that "against our best intentions towards the war, it will last a while….We condemn the aggression; we feel very strongly for Ukraine", they said, "but the two sides need to resolve the matter." - Euronews

President Joe Biden on Thursday opened a critical stretch in his effort to salvage his imperiled reelection campaign, facing a growing sense that he may have just days to make a persuasive case that he is fit for office before Democratic support for him completely evaporates. In the aftermath of his disastrous debate performance last week, some financial backers were holding off or canceling upcoming fundraisers, according to a person familiar with the plans who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to talk about private discussions. “I’m not going anywhere,” Biden told a crowd gathered for a July Fourth barbecue on the White House South Lawn. In a Wednesday night meeting with Democratic governors, Biden acknowledged that he needs to get more sleep and limit evening events so he can turn in earlier to be rested for the job, according to three people familiar with the meeting, who also spoke on condition of anonymity. One person said the president joked that his health was fine, it was his brain that had challenges. - AP

ABC News has pushed forward the release of its crucial interview with President Biden as pressure mounts on the 81-year-old POTUS to prove that he can stay in the 20204 race following a catastrophic debate performance last week. Biden is set to speak to anchor George Stephanopoulos early Friday, with the Disney-owned network originally saying it planned to release the taped interview in dribs and drabs before showing the full thing on Sunday. Now, the entire pre-taped interview will air as a primetime special at 8 p.m. on Friday. A preview of the interview will be released earlier on “World News Tonight with David Muir,” with airs at 6:30 p.m. - NY Post

Overnight, Ukraine air defense forces shot down all 32 drones in the Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv, Chernihiv and Cherkasy regions, Air Force Commander Mykola Oleschuk said. Patrol boats supplied by the United States have now been reportedly deployed on the Dnipro River to defend Kyiv. Odesa residents were awoken by no less than three urgent air raid alarms. Officials said that as a result of a Russian rocket attack on Odesa port infrastructure yesterday, seven people who were injured are still in hospital. Two of them are in a moderate condition, four are in a serious condition and one woman is in an extremely serious condition.

Polls have opened across Iran on July 5 in a runoff presidential election after no candidate secured enough votes to be declared the outright winner of the June 28 vote, which saw a record-low turnout. The election, which was triggered by the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month, has come down to a choice between the reformist veteran lawmaker Masud Pezeshkian and hard-line former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili. It comes at a time when Iranians are contending with a lack of freedoms, declining living standards, and a faltering economy. - RFE/RL