Rishi Sunak, the outgoing British prime minister, conceded his Conservatives party’s defeat early Friday, while holding onto his seat in Parliament.
Mr. Sunak took 47.5 percent of the vote in his constituency of Richmond and Northallerton in northern England. Although he won by a slimmer margin, it was likely a relief for Mr. Sunak, who was reportedly worried about maintaining his once-safe seat in the days leading up to the vote.
But it was also a somber moment, as Mr. Sunak acknowledged in his acceptance speech for his seat that his party had lost. “The Labour Party has won this general election,” Mr. Sunak declared, adding that he had called Keir Starmer, the Labour leader and incoming prime minister to congratulate him.
Few in Richmond expected his ouster from Parliament. Mr. Sunak’s Conservative Party has long held sway in the rural Yorkshire area. If he had lost the race, he would have been the first sitting prime minister to lose his seat in Parliament.
“If they put a billy goat in for Richmond, Conservative, it would get in,” said Lawrence Hathaway, 94. “It’s always been Conservative.”
But this year Mr. Sunak — a multimillionaire whom opponents have painted as failing to understand the needs of ordinary people — was facing historic headwinds after 14 years of Conservative leadership. The party presided over a tumultuous exit from the European Union and Britain has wrestled with a cost of living crisis for years, with inflation reaching 11.1 percent in 2022 and only recently returning to target levels.
