LONDON—The Conservatives, the world’s winningest political party, were booted out of power in dramatic style on Thursday after 14 years of chaotic and divisive rule.
The exit poll, which dropped at 10 PM local time (5 PM EDT), showed that the Labour Party had secured a landslide victory, ending an era of Conservative rule over Britain that stretches back to 2010; the year that the iPad and Instagram were launched and Lady Gaga wore that meat dress to the MTV music awards.
In that time, the Conservatives have cycled through five leaders, each of them dragging the party lower and lower in the polls. It was Rishi Sunak who was finally defeated by a huge margin after running the worst election campaign in living memory. “Devastating night for the Conservatives,” said former leadership contender Andrea Leadsom.
