BBC Monitoring and Matthew Davis
The Conservative Party emerged from the UK general election “fractured” following Rishi Sunak’s “disastrous finish” but the big question for some international media is whether a “bland, even boring” Keir Starmer can clean up the UK’s “mess”.
Labour’s landslide victory has been picked up by commentators around the world, many of whom are analysing what the result means for relations with Britain and the future of Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative party.
The rise of Reform UK has generated a lot of international coverage, particularly in Europe, and the fact that the party’s leader, Brexit supporter Nigel Farage, became an MEP for the first time went unnoticed.
Europe: Centre-left success bucks trend
For the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the results were “British [have] While some are celebrating the weight being lifted from their shoulders, the prospects for new stability in the UK are seen as tenuous.
The paper said voters were “mainly interested in getting rid of the Conservatives”, adding that “Labour has a stable majority but has its own problems”.
German business daily Handelsblatt reports that the UK election results “open up an opportunity to amend Brexit”.
“Now is the time to right one of the greatest mistakes in British politics: the security agreement with the EU is just the beginning,” it said.
Farage’s victory attracted a lot of attention – German tabloid Bild called it an “electoral shock”, but it said Labour should be grateful given that the Reform Party had taken many votes from the Conservatives.
The French media was full of praise for Labour’s victory, even noting the election of Nigel Farage, with Le Figaro reporting that despite the Reform Party leader’s victory in Clacton, “the British people overwhelmingly chose a moderate, centre-left leader.”
Le Monde said the UK’s return to the centre-left “comes as a shock, particularly in the eyes of France, where the far-right is gaining momentum ahead of the second round of parliamentary elections”.
The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera wrote of the Conservative defeat: “The party of Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher emerged from this election broken and will take years to recover. Have the right-wing winds blowing across the continent stopped in the English Channel? Of course not… If those in charge disappoint, they will be replaced.”
Italian conservative daily Il Giornale called Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer a “reassuring institutional alternative” and hoped he would bring stability back to the UK.
But Poland’s state broadcaster TVP found Starmer “a bit bland, even boring”, although fortunately for Starmer, it said “previous Conservative leaders have done much worse”.
Hungarian media pointed to two issues: “support for Ukraine remains intact,” according to the pro-government Magyar Nemzet newspaper, and left-leaning Telex that Hungarians in Britain wanted “a more relaxed attitude regarding visa rules and work permits.”
In the US, “dissatisfied” voters support “dull competence”
The New York Times described Labour’s victory as “a seismic moment in British politics, the return to power of a party that just five years earlier had suffered its biggest defeat since the 1930s.”
But they also noted low voter turnout, reporting that only about 60% of those eligible to vote did so.
“The low figures speak to the sentiment of voters who are unhappy with the previous government but far from optimistic about the next one. They also demonstrate the challenge facing the new Labour government. If it wants to restore disillusioned voters’ faith in mainstream politics, the government will have to act quickly,” the Times said.
ABC News reported that Rishi Sunak’s campaign to remain British Prime Minister shows a lack of political acumen.
“His predecessors, such as Tony Blair and Boris Johnson, were more politically astute and able to connect with voters,” Sunak said. Mr Sunak ignored political advice and called a general election in May. “The Conservative Party’s support has been steadily declining due to economic recession, ethics scandals and a change of leadership over the past two years,” the station said.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal’s headline read, “Britain elects drama-free prime minister after chaotic years after Brexit.”
“Eight years after Britain voted to leave the European Union and entered a period of political and economic turmoil, voters are looking to Keir Starmer to use his blunt ability to stabilise the country,” the paper said.
India: Sunak’s ‘disastrous outcome’
Most Indian television stations and news sites focused on Rishi Sunak’s admission of defeat.
Times Now TV added that everything Mr Sunak tried during the election campaign “has really failed”. “The Conservatives thought they had a plan and now all those plans have failed.”
However, one news site said a Labour victory was “a win for India too”, suggesting Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer would seek better ties with the Indian government.
China: “Can Starmer solve Britain’s mess?”
By Kerry Allen, BBC Monitoring China team
So far, China’s only official statement has been via its Foreign Ministry, which said China was “paying close attention to the outcome of the UK elections” and “hopefully putting Sino-British relations on the right track.”
Despite these expectations, state media was not overly optimistic.
However, the Global Times published a positive article about the next prime minister, saying Sir Keir was “not the firebrand that people imagine” and that the media’s impression of him was “integral, good at managing things but a bit slow”.
The paper said China can look forward to a more pragmatic relationship with Britain.
Russia: No policy changes expected
Anastasia Bazenkova and Yuri Martynenko
Russian state television described the British election results as a “dismal failure” and a “huge defeat” for the Conservative Party and Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
State-run Russia 1 television said Britain’s departure from the EU was the only achievement of 14 years of Conservative government and took issue with the way Russia was chosen in the British elections, which helped rally Western opposition to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“Like much of British politics in recent years, this election cannot be held without an enemy: Russia,” the station said.
Media and commentators in both Russia and Ukraine do not expect the election to change Britain’s policy towards Russia.
“For Moscow [Keir Starmer’s] “His coming to power will not change anything, as he takes an anti-Russian stance and continues to support Ukraine,” said NTV, another major Russian television station.
In Ukraine, the state-run wartime news agency Sspirune echoed the sentiment, saying, “The change of government in Britain for the first time in 14 years will not affect support for Ukraine,” it said.
