How quickly will Sir Keir Starmer move into No 10 Downing Street?

Sir Keir Starmer has become Prime Minister after a Labour landslide which saw Rishi Sunak officially resign from the role after leading his party to a devastating defeat in the general election.

Mr Sunak delivered a historically bad loss, with the Tories finishing on fewer seats than at any point in history. That means Sir Keir and the Labour Party now have an enormous majority in parliament for up to the next five years - with a large number of Tory cabinet members and big names losing their seats.

Ending 14 long years of Tory rule, the result means we can expect to see Mr Sunak say goodbye to 10 Downing Street and make way for Labour's Keir Starmer imminently. Unlike in the US, where losing presidents stay in the role for several months before power is transferred, in Britain the defeated Prime Minister traditionally quits the day after the election is held, The Mirror reports.

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According to modern convention, the handover process begins once the Prime Minister calls the Leader of the Opposition to concede defeat. Mr Sunak called his political rival in the early hours of this morning, July 5, to congratulate Sir Keir on his momentous win.

As he won his own seat, Mr Sunak said: "The Labour Party has won this general election and I have called Keir Starmer to congratulate him". According to The Mirror, this call traditionally begins several hours of intense discussions between the outgoing government, the incoming party and Buckingham Palace as to the timings of the handover.

What happens when a Prime Minister loses an election and when do they move out?

If the opposition party has won enough seats to form a clear majority, the current Prime Minister is expected to make way as soon as possible - usually on the day after polling day. The last time this happened was when Labour's Tony Blair defeated Tory PM John Major in a landslide victory in 1997.

On the morning of his defeat, Mr Major came back from his Huntingdon seat to Downing Street at 7am, delivered a speech to his staff at 10.30am, and left office a short time later after giving a speech outside Number 10. Mr Blair went to Buckingham Palace to accept Queen Elizabeth II's invitation to form a government, and entered Number 10 in the same day.

In the past, removal vans parked outside Downing Street have become iconic images of a Prime Minister's defeat. This was certainly true of Ted Heath in 1974, a music-loving PM whose baby grand piano was loaded into the back of a lorry in front of the entire nation when he lost to Harold Wilson.

In 1990, a famous photograph by the Daily Mirror showed Margaret Thatcher with tears in her eyes as she left Downing Street for the very last time. She's not the only one to become emotional when power slips away, as Theresa May also cried during her resignation speech when Brexit brought down her government in 2019.

If the election had resulted in a hung parliament, the Prime Minister would stay in post until parties could secure a majority in the House of Commons. This means they would be in Number 10 until the next government is formed.

This happened in 2010, when Gordon Brown remained in Downing Street for five days after the election while David Cameron and Nick Clegg sewed up a Tory-Lib Dem coalition. But it won't happen this time around as Labour have won an unprecedented 412 seats.

Rishi Sunak and his family are very wealthy and have plenty of places to go once they leave Number 10. The couple own four different properties, with two in London, one in Yorkshire, and another in California. Given the short distance, they will likely go straight to their five-bedroom mews home in Kensington, west London, which is estimated by estate agents to be worth more than £7 million, The Mirror reports.

Will Sir Keir Starmer live in Downing Street and how quickly could he move?

The Starmer family, consisting of Sir Keir, Lady Victoria and their two teenage children, are expected to relocate to Downing Street. According to Sky News, Sir Keir has not yet indicated whether he will follow Mr Sunak's lead and live at Number 10, or copy a string of prime ministers going back to 1997 and take the larger flat above Number 11 instead.

But the move may not happen so soon. Sky News reports When the Conservatives took power in 2010, it was three weeks before the Cameron family moved to Downing Street, whereas it took Theresa May a week to settle in and Boris Johnson gave it five days, Sky News reports.

Earlier today, Rishi Sunak delivered his resignation speech outside Number 10 Downing Street, which he will no longer be able to call his home.

He said: "To the country I would like to say first and foremost, I am sorry. I have heard your anger, your disappointment and I take responsibility for this loss."

He added: "This is a difficult day at the end of a number of difficult days but I leave this job honoured to have been your Prime Minister." Mr Sunak said he will stand down as Tory leader but not immediately, allowing a new leadership contest to take place.

This afternoon, Sir Keir became Prime Minister after meeting the King at Buckingham Palace following the resignation of Mr Sunak.

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