Rishi Sunak succeeded Liz Truss, who was ousted after just 49 days in power. (File)
London:
The United Kingdom will go to the polls on July 4, in the long-awaited general election called on Wednesday by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Here are the main players in the national vote.
Rishi Sunak
Sunak, 44, is seeking to gain his own mandate from the British public, having been sworn in as Conservative leader, and therefore prime minister, by his own MPs in October 2022.
He succeeded Liz Truss, who was ousted after just 49 days in power, after her tax-cutting economic agenda spooked markets and lost her party’s support.
Sunak, who is of Indian descent, became the UK’s first Asian and Hindu British prime minister when he was elected unopposed by other Conservative MPs.
The former financier was credited with stabilizing the government after the chaos of the Truss and Boris Johnson governments and halving inflation.
However, he failed to deliver on several promises, including reducing healthcare waiting lists, ending irregular immigration and sending migrants to Rwanda.
Opinion polls regularly give him some of the lowest approval ratings of any prime minister.
Keir Starmer
Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labor Party, is a former human rights lawyer and chief prosecutor, tipped by polls to win the election and become prime minister.
Starmer, 61, has been credited with taking his party back to the center and eradicating antisemitism since succeeding left-winger Jeremy Corbyn as leader in April 2020.
His supporters see him as a pragmatic and safe pair of hands, ideally suited to managing Britain’s recovery from economic decline.
Critics accuse him of being an uninspiring lurker who has failed to define a clear vision for the country.
Starmer was born in London to a toolmaker father and a nurse mother. His unusual first name was a tribute from his socialist parents to the founder of the Labor Party – Keir Hardie.
The keen footballer and Arsenal fan was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to criminal justice, but rarely uses the prefix “Sir” before his name.
Nigel Farage
He has never been an MP and has not yet confirmed whether he is running to become one, but arch-Eurosceptic Nigel Farage is expected to influence the election – whether as a parliamentary candidate or as a television news presenter.
The 60-year-old beer-loving, cigarette-smoking former member of the European Parliament is one of the most divisive personalities in UK politics.
He earned the nickname “Mr. Brexit” by former US President Donald Trump, after helping persuade a majority of Britons in 2016 to vote to leave the European Union.
For months he has been teasing a bid for the role, likely from the right-wing populist Reform UK party, which he co-founded in 2018 and of which he currently serves as honorary president.
The reform polled around 10 percent in recent months, which, if replicated in the vote, could deprive the Conservatives of several key seats needed to win re-election.
Farage is a perennial loser at Westminster, however, having failed to get elected in seven attempts and may feel he has more influence as a high-profile presenter on the right-wing channel GB News.
Swinney, Davey and Denyer
Neither Ed Davey’s Liberal Democrats nor John Swinney’s Scottish National Party (SNP) will win the election – but they could have a say in who does.
Davey, 58, hopes his party can stage a Conservative victory by winning several seats in southern England as it aims to overtake the SNP to regain its position as the third-largest party in parliament.
Swinney, 60, does not sit in the UK parliament but is first minister in the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, having taken over the leadership of the SNP in May following the resignation of Humza Yousaf.
His SNP is struggling to defend itself from the resurgence of the Labor Party in Scotland, which could end its hopes of independence for a generation.
Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer, 38, hopes to win the new seat of Bristol Central as the fringe group aims to increase its representation from one to four MPs.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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