Chris Mason
Political editor

New Prime Minister Keir Starmer has spoken to US President Joe Biden. The White House said Biden called him to congratulate him.

Starmer also addressed an all-staff meeting in Downing Street this afternoon.

It is thought he may speak to some other foreign leaders tonight. It is likely he will also speak to the devolved leaders in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.

Tomorrow morning, he will hold the first meeting of his new cabinet.

Manish Pandey
BBC Newsbeat

Throughout the election campaign, BBC Newsbeat has been on a Race Across the UK, speaking to young voters about what matters to them.

We’ve checked back in with some of them today.

“Making sure mental health provisions are a lot better,” says Pravjoth Gill, 23.

And she wants people like herself to feel safer when going out - “to ensure young people are taken care of, when going to uni or having a social life.”

Janet Gyimah, 20, says she wants NHS waiting times to be prioritised.

“We’ll see if they’re keeping up to their policies and are different from the Tories," she says.

Ellie Ricks says she wants the environment to be a focus - “making sure we’re getting towards net zero and moving away from oil and gas.”

She also feels the country needs greater unity because of “how polarised society is at the moment”.

“I’d like to see a more united Britain.”

More announcements now from No 10: Lucy Powell has been appointed Lord President of the Council and leader of the House of Commons.

Baroness Smith of Basildon has been appointed Lord Privy Seal and leader of the House of Lords.

The new PM entered the palace around midday alongside his wife Victoria. They were then greeted by Clive Alderton, principal private secretary to the King and Queen, and Commander William Thornton, Royal Navy, equerry to the King.

In the clip shared by Buckingham Palace, which you can see in the previous post, Starmer is seen entering the private audience room where shook hands with Charles.

The King quipped: "You must be exhausted and nearly on your knees." Starmer responded: "Not much sleep".

Later in the meeting, the prime minister highlighted the "quick change around" since the elections results were announced, to which the King replied: "To say the least. And having to get to grips with everything straight away must be quite exhausting."

This is the moment Keir Starmer met King Charles III this afternoon at Buckingham Palace.

The King invited Starmer to form a new government, following Labour's landslide majority.

The meeting between monarch and election winner is a longstanding tradition but it's the first time a video of it has been released on the same day.

Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Westminster moves on quickly.

Rishi Sunak has gone. Keir Starmer has appointed most of his cabinet already.

I’ve watched a few of these handovers in the last few years. We’ve got used to one Conservative PM replacing another.

Keir Starmer is only the fifth labour leader ever to take his party from opposition to power.

It’s remarkable how quickly the transfer happens. By tomorrow morning, a whole new team will be around the cabinet table discussing the UK’s future. A whole new political team will be in No 10.

Civil servants and Larry the cat will provide the continuity. But few postcodes move on as quickly as this one.

Ashitha Nagesh
BBC News Community Affairs Correspondent

New Foreign Secretary David Lammy has been asked about the success of pro-Palestinian candidates, who won several seats after appealing to voters angry at Labour's stance on the war in Gaza.

He says the party "recognise the agony of communities who have seen the scenes coming out of Israel and Gaza".

"All of us want to see an immediate ceasefire, and I will do all I can diplomatically to support Joe Biden in bringing about that ceasefire," he said.

"We also want the hostages out and we want unfettered aid to get into Gaza and in the end we must work towards that two-state solution and have a clear path to progress."

Five candidates who campaigned on pro-Palestinian platforms won seats, including in Leicester South, where shadow paymaster Jonathan Ashworth was beaten by Shockat Adam.

There were also some extremely close calls for Labour. New Health Secretary Wes Streeting was a whisker away from losing to Leanne Mohamad in Ilford North, winning with a majority of just over 500.

Ben Jamal, from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, told me this was “a shot across the bows of the incoming Labour government”.

Campaign group The Muslim Vote had also urged British Muslims to vote tactically to protest against Labour’s stance on Gaza.

“The seeds of our community’s future have been sown,” it said.

Image source, Reuters

Diane Abbott will become the Mother of the House in the new parliament, a symbolic title given to the longest-serving female MP.

After a tumultuous few months, Abbott was re-elected in the Hackney North and Stoke Newington constituency in the 2024 general election, picking up 60% of the vote share.

The 70-year-old became the first black woman to be elected to the House of Commons in 1987.

The Fawcett Society, a charity campaigning for gender equality and women's rights, said Abbott was a "trailblazer".

The title was previously held by Labour veteran Harriet Harman, who did not stand at this election after four decades in office.

We can now bring you a few more appointments to the new cabinet:

• Hilary Benn - Northern Ireland secretary
• Ian Murray - Scottish secretary
• Jo Stevens - Welsh secretary

Lisa Nandy has been appointed the new culture secretary, in a change of role.

She had been given international development brief in Keir Starmer's shadow cabinet, but appears to have shifted position - after Thangam Debbonaire was defeated in Bristol Central by Green Party's co-leader Carla Denyer.

Image source, Reuters

Reform UK has won in Basildon South and East Thurrock after a recount - gaining the new seat from a notional Conservative candidate.

The victory for James McMurdock in the Essex constituency means Nigel Farage's party now has five MPs in the House of Commons.

McMurdock won the seat with a majority of just 98 votes from Labour candidate Jack Ferguson.

This leaves just one seat yet to be confirmed, but a result in Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire is not expected until tomorrow over a vote "discrepancy' delaying it.

Ione Wells
Political correspondent

Image source, Reuters

The Conservative Party had become accustomed to almost being the Manchester City of politics.

A blue, winning machine for so long that some of its key players could barely remember anything else.

But their streak - that delivered Tory prime ministers in four elections in a row - has been brought to a dramatic end.

Many Tories, both winners and losers, are almost speechless and still processing it. One told me they were simply "not coherent".

A post-mortem on what went wrong with their tactics and leadership, and where to go next, is now beginning.

When I speak to Conservatives, several themes come up repeatedly.

Some feel Labour's policy offering was not drastically different to theirs, but think the choice became more about perceptions of "competence".

They have had five leaders, and prime ministers, in less than 10 years.

• Read more here

Kwasi Kwarteng - who was chancellor during Liz Truss's brief premiership - says he takes "some responsibility" for the Conservatives losing the election, but none for the nature of the party's campaign or the election timing.

Asked about Truss losing her seat last night, he said "politics is brutal", adding that there was a perception that she "wasn't spending enough time in her constituency".

From a personal point of view, it will be "really really difficult" for her, he says, but she is "very resilient" and will "bounce back".

Asked if the Conservative Party can survive, he says "I think it can" and that 121 MPs is not very many but "does form a base from which you can rebuild".

Hugh Pym
Health editor

The new Health Secretary Wes Streeting said to reporters on the way into the Department of Health: "The NHS saved my life and I am determined to spend my life trying to save the NHS."

Meanwhile the British Medical Association says it’s willing to start talks with the government to resolve the junior doctors’ pay dispute in England.

The BMA says it’s waiting for a call from Streeting.

While we await further cabinet announcements, we're also still waiting for the results in two constituencies to be declared.

In South Basildon and East Thurrock, a recount has been taking place since 14:00 BST, with the result set to be announced soon.

While in Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire, a result is not expected until tomorrow due to vote "discrepancy" delays.

• You can look up who won in your area here

We've got three more appointments to the new PM's cabinet to bring you now:

• Jonathan Reynolds - business and trade secretary
• Peter Kyle - science, innovation and technology secretary
• Louise Haigh - transport secretary

Sir Keir Starmer's new cabinet continues to take shape - the seventh announcement today is that Liz Kendall is the new secretary of state for work and pensions.

Image source, Reuters

Reform and Greens lose out in gap between vote share and MPspublished at 16:39 British Summer Time 5 July

16:39 BST 5 July

By Ben Chu

As we've been reporting, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been criticising the UK's first-past-the-post electoral system - Reform’s roughly 4m votes translates into a 14% share of the total vote, but only 1% of all the seats.

By contrast, Labour won 34% of total votes cast, but around 63% of the 650 seats in the House of Commons.

BBC polling expert Prof Sir John Curtice told Verify that the overall result of the 2024 election was the most disproportionate in post-war history.

The Greens also had a considerably larger vote share than seat share, with 7% of total votes cast, but only around 1% of total seats.

Meanwhile the Liberal Democrats, who have often in previous elections had a larger vote share than seat share, this time saw the two roughly equal: 12% of total votes cast and 11% of seats in Parliament.

Read more on this

Ione Wells
Political correspondent

Image source, Reuters

At his event earlier, Nigel Farage was pushed on how much time he would actually spend in the Essex seaside town of Clacton now he is a local MP.

He says he does want to improve the area and boost things like tourism and investment.

But he says it is a “big decision” for him to leave other things he does to become an MP. And as a party leader he will of course want to spend time on the “national stage”, he says.

That does sound like a precursor for potentially not committing to being there every Friday as most MPs are expected to in their constituencies.