Keir Starmer Elected New UK Labour Leader: Party

Pro-European centrist Keir Starmer was on Saturday unveiled as new Labour party leader, heralding a shift in Britain's main opposition party after a crushing election defeat under veteran socialist Jeremy Corbyn and years of ideological infighting

London, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Apr, 2020 ) :Pro-European centrist Keir Starmer was on Saturday unveiled as new Labour party leader, heralding a shift in Britain's main opposition party after a crushing election defeat under veteran socialist Jeremy Corbyn and years of ideological infighting.

The 57-year-old former chief state prosecutor defeated Corbyn loyalist Rebecca Long-Bailey and backbencher Lisa Nandy in a lengthy campaign sparked by Corbyn's resignation after December's loss at the polls to Boris Johnson's Conservatives.

Angela Rayner becomes the new deputy leader, Labour announced on Twitter, after it was forced to cancel a special conference because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Starmer, who was Labour's Brexit spokesman, called his election "the honour and privilege" of his life and vowed to "engage constructively" with Johnson's Conservative government.

Johnson immediately offered his congratulations and the pair spoke, with Starmer accepting an invitation to a government briefing on COVID-19 next week.

"Keir offered to work constructively with the government on how best to respond to the coronavirus outbreak," his spokesman said.

Starmer himself vowed to reunite Labour, after deep rifts between supporters of socialist Corbyn's hard-left ideals and centrists, and wrangling over its Brexit strategy.

He immediately addressed the issue of anti-Semitism that Corbyn was accused of failing to tackle, which tarnished the party's reputation and caused Jewish members to leave in droves.