Rishi Sunak apologised to the people on Friday, 5 July 2024, after his Conservatives were defeated by Labour Party in the UK general election. He also announced his resignation as party leader.

The 44-year-old former financier gambled on visiting the country six months before he needed to, expecting that improved economic data would flip public support back to the Conservatives.

However, Thursday’s vote indicated that Britons wanted to send a clear message to the party by removing them from office after 14 years of economic suffering, Brexit uncertainty, and Tory infighting.

“To the country, I would like to say first and foremost, I am sorry,” he declared outside the Prime Minister’s house at Downing Street before heading to Buckingham Palace to hand over his resignation as Prime Minister to King Charles III.

“I have given this job my best, but you have sent a clear message that the government of the United Kingdom must change. And yours is the only judgment that counts. I have heard your anger, your disappointment, and I take responsibility for this loss.”

Because of the magnitude of the defeat, Sunak, the Conservatives party’s fifth leader since 2010, was forced to resign as well. However, he stated that he would stay in the position until procedures were made for an internal leadership challenge, which is expected to be a battle for the party’s ideological soul.

Sunak saw a record number of his top ministers lose their seats, including Defence Secretary, Grant Shapps and House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt. Liz Truss, his immediate predecessor as Prime Minister, has also lost her seat.

Sunak, Britain’s first Prime Minister of colour and an observant Hindu, wished his successor, Keir Starmer, well, calling him “a decent, public-spirited man whom I respect.”

“One of the most remarkable things about Britain is just how unremarkable it is that two generations after my grandparents came here with little, I could become prime minister, according to him. Also, I could witness my two young girls light Diwali candles on the steps of Downing Street. We must stay faithful to who we are.”

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