This Week in Explainers: A crash course on the UK election results

2024 is the year of the election and this week has seen hectic developments around the world.

Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party suffered a big defeat in the UK general election. The country has a new prime minister – Labour’s Keir Starmer.

The United States is still reeling from Joe Biden’s debate debacle. (Seriously, what was that?) The Democrats have panicked and there is a growing buzz about demands to replace the incumbent president as the party nominee.

Iran has a new president and France is holding the second round of snap legislative polls today. The far-right National Rally (RN) cruised to victory with 33 per cent of the vote in the first round of voting last Sunday (30 June). However, it is unlikely to secure a majority in the second round, reveal polls.

With so many elections, political parties and new leaders, it can get confusing. But we try to simplify it for you in our weekly roundup of explainers.

1. Let’s talk about the UK. Rishi Sunak is out, Keir Starmer is in. After 14 years and five prime ministers, the Conservative Party shared a crushing defeat. Starmer’s Labour has promised change to Britain. We look back at the history of the Labour Party, its leaders, the promises it has made and its policies.

2. A new government in the UK comes with a new foreign policy. India features prominently on Starmer’s agenda. From the India-UK Free Trade Agreement to Hinduphobia, the Labour promises to pay attention to all. The victory of the centre-left party might be good news for India. Here’s why.

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3. Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party suffered a humiliating defeat in the UK general election. It lost more than 250 seats and will now be in the opposition. Sunak resigned as party leader and several Cabinet ministers including former PM Liz Truss lost their seats. So what went wrong for the world’s oldest party? We analyse.

4. London’s most famous address is 10 Downing Street. It has been the locale of British prime ministers since 1735. But what’s behind the black door, where some of the biggest decisions in Britain have been taken? We give you a sneak peek.

5. From the UK, let’s move to the United States. The presidential election is months away but the pandemonium surrounding it has been going on for a while. It’s not looking good for Joe Biden after a disastrous performance at the debate with Donald Trump.

Doubts have persisted for long that the 81-year-old incumbent is no longer up to the job. Now his dismal show at the 27 June debate has made even Democrats nervous. But can the party replace him? And what happens if they do? We have some answers.

6. The death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May led to a presidential run-off in Iran. Reformist Masoud Pezeshkian has defeated Saeed Jalili Masoud, a hardliner. The 69-year-old winner is a heart surgeon, a lawmaker and a Centrist.

The president-elect has vowed to reach out to the West and end Iran’s ‘isolation from the world’. But can he bring about changes when Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei remains the final arbiter on all matters of state? We explain.

7. Our next story comes from space. It has been more than three weeks since Sunita Williams went to space on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft with Butch Wilmore. But they now appear to be stranded.

The crewed test flight, which started on June 5, faced various problems such as helium leaks and thruster failures. What’s going on and when will the astronaut’ return? Find out in one of our most-read explainers of the week.

8. This sounds straight out of an episode of Black Mirror. It’s shocking yet true. In South Korea, a robot is said to have ‘died by suicide’. The reason… stress. Is that even possible? What’s the real story?

That’s all from us this week. Hope you enjoy your recommendations. Bookmark this page, if you like the way we explain the news.

PS: You might now be up-to-date with UK politics, but your crash course is incomplete if you haven’t read about Larry the Cat.