A stunned Sky News studio led the bizarre reaction when Labour’s predicted landslide victory was dramatically revealed by British broadcasters on Thursday night.
As the shocking exit poll results were announced at 10pm, presenters from Sky, ITV, Channel 4 and the BBC revealed to the nation that Sir Keir Starmer is on course to win 410 of the 650 seats, while the Conservatives will only get 131.
Broadcaster GB News made a mistake early on election night, showing a graphic showing the Conservatives had little chance of winning 410 seats, compared to Labour’s 131 – a landslide victory in the wrong direction.
But the strangest reaction came from the Sky News studio, who could be heard on audio making some unusual noises as Labour’s predicted majority of 170 votes appeared on screen.
Viewers were left stunned as presenter Kay Burley and Manchester’s Labour Mayor Andy Burnham let out a series of strange moans as they were left completely speechless.
This prompted social media users to ask: “What’s going on in the Sky News studio?”
Moments later, a replay of their reactions was shown, with Burnham seen almost jumping out of his seat and raising his arms in the air as he sat next to an unimpressed Baroness Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives.
Andy Burnham celebrated as he sat next to an unimpressed Baroness Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives.
Broadcaster GB News made a mistake early on election night, showing a graphic that showed the Conservatives on track to win 410 seats and Labour on track for 131 – the other way around.
Laura Kuenssberg and Clive Myrie were much more measured in revealing the exit poll.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Emily Maitlis were stunned when the exit polls were published.
Tom Bradby, who presents ITV’s coverage, was stunned when he revealed: “The exit poll is in. It predicts a landslide for Labour, a Labour majority of 170 votes.”
As expected, the BBC gave a much more controlled update when the polls closed at 10pm.
Laura Kuenssberg said: ‘When Big Ben strikes 10, exit polls predict a landslide Labour victory.’
Clive Myrie added calmly: “Sir Keir Starmer will become Prime Minister with a majority of around 170 seats.”
Tom Bradby, who presents ITV’s coverage, was stunned when he revealed: ‘The exit poll is in. It predicts a landslide for Labour, a Labour majority of 170 seats. The Conservatives have 131 seats and Labour 410. The Lib Dems are projected to have 61 seats, the Reform Party 13 and the SNP is expected to get 10.
“It’s a simply astonishing result, a record, a historic event. The Conservatives lost the fewest seats since 1832, which I think, if you look at that figure, is a surprisingly low figure.”
And on Channel 4, Krishnan Guru-Murthy said: “We can reveal that this is a landslide victory for Labour, as predicted by the exit polls. Catastrophe for the Tories: Sir Keir Starmer becomes the first ever Labour prime minister.”
Co-presenter Emily Maitlis added: ‘So, a landslide victory for Labour. This is your voice. This is our country deciding we’ve had enough. If the exit polls are right, this is a moment of radical, generational change. Keir Starmer will become the first person to lead Labour from opposition into government in 27 years.
“And for many of our viewers tonight will be a virtual, perhaps real, life.”
Rishi Sunak’s tenure as Prime Minister looks set to end in electoral disaster, with the Conservatives set to suffer heavy losses.
Sir Keir Starmer is on course to win 410 of the 650 seats, an exit poll revealed on Thursday night.
Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty arrived to cast their vote at Kirby Sigston Village Hall in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, on Thursday morning.
Sir Keir arrived with his wife Victoria to cast their votes at a polling station in his constituency of Holborn and St Pancras in north London.
This marks a stark turnaround from the 2019 general election, when Boris Johnson handed the Conservatives a healthy 80-seat majority and Jeremy Corbyn led Labour to its worst result since 1935.
The exit poll suggests Labour is on track to win 410 seats, while the Conservatives are down to 131.
This will mean that for the first time in 2010 there will be a Labour prime minister in Number 10 and the Conservatives will face a potential civil war as the fight over the future direction of the party and the battle to potentially replace Sunak begins.
After 14 years in power, it was always going to be a tough election for the Conservatives, but the sometimes chaotic campaign (triggered at a time chosen by Sunak) has contributed to his party’s likely defeat.
From the rain-soaked speech announcing the surprise July 4 election, to the D-Day debacle when he left Normandy early to record a television interview, to the muddled campaign messaging about a Labour “supermajority”, Sunak struggled to convince voters he was the right man to lead the country.
Holding an election in the summer rather than waiting until the autumn was always going to be a risky gamble, and the Prime Minister was not helped by the scandal involving Tory candidates and officials allegedly going to bookmakers armed with inside knowledge of the date.
Sunak is widely expected to resign after leading his party to defeat, but many of the contenders vying to replace him are nervously awaiting the results from their own constituencies to see whether their leadership dreams survive the night.
People including Penny Mordaunt, Grant Shapps, Suella Braverman, Steve Baker and Robert Jenrick are all facing battles to return to Parliament.
Former Home Secretaries Suella Braverman and Dame Priti Patel, Security Minister Tom Tugendhat and Health Secretary Victoria Atkins could all survive to fight for the leadership.
The exit poll suggested Labour would have a majority of 170, with the forecast indicating the lowest number of Conservative MPs on record.
The poll suggests the Liberal Democrats will win 61 seats, Reform UK 13 and the Green Party two.
In Scotland, the SNP is expected to win 10 seats, while in Wales Plaid Cymru will win four.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said his party was “on course to achieve our best results in a century, thanks to our positive campaign with health and healthcare at its heart”.