He’s derided as dull, but Keir Starmer becomes UK prime minister with a sensational victory

LONDON (AP) — For someone often derided as dull, Keir Starmer has delivered a sensational election result.

Starmer has led Britain’s Labour Party to a landslide election victory, and on Friday will become prime minister — the first leader from the center-left party to win a U.K. national election since Tony Blair, who won three in a row starting in 1997.

It’s the latest reinvention for a man who went from human rights attorney to hard-nosed prosecutor and from young radical to middle-aged pragmatist.

Like Blair, who refashioned the party as “New Labour” in the 1990s, 61-year-old Starmer led Labour to victory over Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party in Thursday’s election after dragging the party towards the political middle ground.

He won by promising voters change, but also calm, vowing to restore stability to public life and give Britain “the sunlight of hope” after 14 years of turmoil under the Conservatives.

“People look at Starmer and they see this guy who is very solid, clearly ...