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UK's Labour Sweeps To Power As Sunak Concedes Election; Hurricane Beryl Hits Jamaica, Roars Toward Mexico; Biden Says He'll Curtail Late Events So He Can Sleep; Trump Caught On Camera Slamming Biden; Israel-Hamas Talks On Ceasefire Details Could Begin As Early As Friday; Labour Party Wins U.K. General Election; Looking Back on 14 Years of Conservative Party Rule; Hurricane Beryl Approaches Yucatan Peninsula; Japanese Fans Flock to L.A. To See Dodgers' Star Hitter. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired July 05, 2024 - 01:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[01:00:00]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, I'm Michael Holmes live in Atlanta. Appreciate your company. Coming up here on CNN Newsroom, Labour landslide. Britain's center left party wins the country's parliamentary elections, ending 14 years of conservative rule.

Hurricane Beryl prepares to strike another tourist hotspot after a week of tearing across several Caribbean islands.

And Joe Biden joined by his vice president at the White House as rumors swirl about whether Kamala Harris might replace the U.S. president at the top of the democratic ticket.

Thanks for joining us. And I want to go straight to London where my colleague Max Foster has the latest from what has been a pretty historic U.K. election. Max.

MAX FOSTER, ANCHOR: Really has major change sweeping across the political landscape here in the UK. 14 years of conservative rule have come to an end. The Labour Party secured a majority of seats in parliament and it appears to be on pace for a landslide. Actually, numbers still coming in, but they're very bad for Rishi Sunak's party.

Its leader, Keir Starmer will become the next prime minister. He'll take over from Sunak. He talked about change. You can see it there as well on his podium. Both men will meet separately with King Charles later on Friday. One to resign and one to be appointed.

Starmer spoke to an enthusiastic crowd in London just in the last hour, telling them it's time to put country first and party second.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH LABOUR PARTY LEADER: We did it. You campaigned for it, you fought for it, you voted for it. And now it has arrived. Change begins now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: A bit earlier, in an extraordinary move, even before the results had actually come in, Mr. Sunak conceded that Labour had won and he took responsibility for the loss as well. He served as prime minister since October 2022.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RISHI SUNAK, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The Labour Party has won this general election and I've called Sir Keir Starmer to congratulate him on his victory. Today, power will chase house in a peaceful and orderly manner with goodwill on all sides.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: One of the surprises of the election, the relatively strong showing of the Reform Party. Its leader, Nigel Farage, who promoted Brexit, will win a seat in parliament for the very first time. He's tried a few times, hasn't he, over the years?

CNN's international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson live outside 10 Downing Street in London. It does feel, Nic, as this, you know, it doesn't have the energy, does it, of 1997. It doesn't feel necessary as a massive victory for labor, more defeat of the Conservatives.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: And that's what a lot of people are saying and politicians, particularly on the conservative side, that don't see this as a win for Labour. They say that people were unenthusiastic about leader Keir Starmer and remembering and pointing out that he has such a low or high, if you will, unpopularity rating, given how well the party has actually done,

I think there are others who would know Keir Starmer better and would say, look, as somebody, as a politician, his style is not to be flashy, that he will better in government than he is in opposition, that his abilities are leading and making the change that he's talked about.

But yes, it does seem to be an absolute put down for the Tories, for the conservative party. Reform doing well, an insurgent right-wing group that has eaten away at the conservative party's vote share.

In Scotland, north of the border, where Labour really had and has taken, it appears, opportunity to win a lot of additional seats from the Scottish National Party, it appears, the SNP north of the border that we're still waiting for a lot of those results to come in are going to fare very poorly.

In Wales, Plaid Cymru, the Nationalist Party there, appear to be on track to do well. And in Wales, the Conservatives seem to have lost all their seats. Of course, all of this to be finally determined when we get all the results in.

But it is now Keir Starmer's job to form that government. And I think there was an important message. You know, he has this message of change and how they're going to bring change to the country, that if you work hard, play by the rules, and the government will, that you will be rewarded.

[01:05:08]

If you will, that you will be respected by this government, a government for everyone. But he also reminded his party about unity, that they changed the party over the last four years. And he said to remember that and remember the unity. And I think that's perhaps a message to the left wing in his party, because another surprise in the night was the former Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who led the party so disastrously to their massive loss in 2019, actually won his seat in London as an independent. That also would be something that will be well taken notice of, if you will, by Keir Starmer.

But at the moment, this is the moment where he rallies the party, thanks the party, rallies the country, and begins to lay out for the country his message and delivering on his missions of improving the economy, of improving the healthcare system, of improving justice and crime, of bringing cleaner energy and jobs within that sector. So this is a broad prospectus is laying out, but one that he says is for everyone in the country.

FOSTER: I'm just looking at the list of high profile Conservatives who've lost their seats. Grant Shapps, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Penny Mordaunt. It's, you know, it's a damning assessment for them. But also, you know, the rise of Nigel Farage. He's not quite far right, is he? But he has got this big immigration, you know, Brexit platform, but also we've got the Greens doing well in Bristol. So there are some extremes in british politics who really came out on top two.

ROBERTSON: Absolutely. And I think the Reform Party, Nigel Farage, making it very clear that, though, this time round, they really sort of went after the Conservative, the constituencies where they thought they could be the conservative candidate, he said that they will be going after in the future, the Labour Party seats.

And there were something he said that caught my attention as well, talking about the first past the post system in the U.K., which he described as being unfair. And if you look at the percentage votes that it appears reform is getting already, that won't be quite matched by the number of seats that they can expect to get in parliament.

And that could be said of parties like the Liberal Democrat Party, who are on track to improve their standing in parliament as well, probably at the expense of the Conservatives. These parties, it would seem, could potentially even over time, change the electoral system in the UK. They're certainly indicating that they want to do that because that would favor them and push the country away from a two party, politominated, two party political system. But I think we're a long way from that. But that was very interesting to hear that from the reform leader, Nigel Farage.

FOSTER: OK, Nic Robertson in Downing Street, thank you so much. It's raining, of course, here in Britain. What could be more British?

Joining me now is Lara Spirit, political journalist and Red Box editor at The Times. Lara, you've been following it all night. I mean, what is the big theme for you?

LARA SPIRIT, POLITICAL JOURNALIST AND RED BOX EDITOR, ATHE TIMES: I mean, the big theme is the likely Labour majority. That I think will be the abiding message of this evening, that Keir Starmer, going from a 1935 style nadir just five years ago in 2019. The Labour Party now having a landslide defeat in that short period of time.

Among that story, you will see tales of successive senior conservative figures who have failed to hold on to their seats. Here in the U.K., we call them Portillo, moments after Michael Portillo, a very senior Tory who lost his seat in 1997.

There were some pockets of hope for the Conservatives. Perhaps we'll not necessarily hope, but I suppose things that might give Keir Starmer pause for when categorizing this as an unambiguous victory for his party.

There were two of his senior frontbenchers who lost their seats this evening, Jonathan Ashworth and Thangam Debbonaire, who are expecting to play leading roles in a future Labour government. They now won't be in the new parliament.

And Wes Streeting, who was the shadow health secretary and will be expected to become health secretary in the coming days, came extraordinarily close, potentially losing his own seat, just a few hundred votes in that he clung on. But after a strong challenge in his seat, that was certainly a surprise, I think, for the labor leadership to feel that they were run that close in a key constituency where they were not expecting it to be a competitive fight.

So I think there are moments in which over the course of tonight that will make labor think, actually, this might not be a massively resilient coalition.

[01:10:00]

We know that voters are extremely volatile compared to in previous years and previous elections, but I think overall, this is a big success story Keir Starmer tonight. Speaking to activists, he conceded that it feels good, I have to be honest, a moment of rare admission of triumph from the labor leader this evening. And you can see why.

FOSTER: Yes, the last big landslide, obviously, was Tony Blair in 1997. And it does look as though they're going to come pretty close to that number that he won back then. But the atmosphere is completely different, isn't it? That was, you know, it was celebration. It was genuine confidence in that Labour Party.

But even Keir Starmer tonight was quite sober, wasn't. I know he's sober at the best of times, but he was quite sober, considering what he's achieved. And he talked about change. So this is about change more than, look, you know, it's changing what we've got. Right. And we've seen that in some of those small accounts as well, which are nevertheless significant in Bristol with the Greens and also with Nigel Farage's seat. SPIRIT: Yes, and there have been 14 years that the Conservatives have

been in power here in Britain. And I think it's become a common refrain in recent weeks to say that any landslide labor defeat would be more motivated by antipathy, by dislike towards the Conservatives and an urge to get them out office than it perhaps would be for a full throated endorsement of any vision that Keir Starmer and the Labour Party have to offer.

And I think tonight, Jeremy Corbyn, you know, some, is predecessor running as an independent in Islington north after he was suspended from the Labour Party. He was successful tonight. And when he was questioned about this, he made it clear that this was not, in his view, a massive, unquestionable mandate for Keir Starmer to do what he wants.

That actually vote share looks like it will be lower for the party than it was in, say, 2017 when he was the party leader. Of course, it's a much more efficiently spread vote for Keir Starmer now, but I think, as you say, the energy compared to '97, which is what people in Westminster love to talk about, is this going to feel similar to the last time we had a change of conservative government for the first time in a long time? It's a different mood. And Keir Starmer himself said, when he said walk into the morning, he said, the sunlight of hope hail at first, but stronger throughout the day.

We've heard a lot through this campaign from both him and Rachel Reeves, his shadow chancellor, about how there is going to be a grim inheritance, in their view, about how the finances aren't looking good, about how they're going to have to make difficult choices and decisions, and about how their job will be one of repairing losses, rather, I think, than in the case of perhaps Tony Blair saying that they have a kind of much more bold and positive vision, perhaps. So that will be interesting to see in.

FOSTER: Yes, it's interesting you talk about the mandate because it's there. You know, he's won. But the turnout was horribly low, wasn't it? People aren't engaged in politics in the way that they were. So it's not necessarily the whole nation is behind this big change. A lot of them just aren't bothered about politics at all. They're completely tuned out.

SPIRIT: Yes. And I think so far, I think turnout is down seven points on the last election. I think that had been something people were saying for some time. We might see that there's widespread disaffection, that there's a lot of cynicism in the wider electorate, and that therefore this can't be seen as a kind of resounding endorsement of labor or a love for Labour, but more a very efficiently spread Labour vote, especially compared to previous elections.

It's a new coalition of voters and they are delivering Starmer a 1997 style majority, but certainly with a smaller share of the vote than some would have expected and certainly that some in labor would have hoped.

FOSTER: OK, Lara Spirit, really appreciate. You must be getting tired now. It's a long day ahead because we've got the speeches, Michael. We've also got that moment, you know, when they go to the palace and resign. Rishi Sunak will resign and we'll see Keir Starmer for the first time as prime minister of the UK.

HOLMES: Yes. Then the movers show up at number ten, I presume, at some point, and start moving one out and one in. Max good to see my friend. Max Foster in London. He will be back a little later this hour.

Meanwhile, Mexico bracing for Hurricane Beryl, imposing a maximum danger red alert in one of the country's tourism hotspots as the storm regains category three strength. Plus, Joe Biden says he's not going anywhere. As he fights for his political life, he says he just needs more sleep.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:16:40]

HOLMES: Hurricane Beryl is back over open water and getting stronger as it makes a beeline towards Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. At Cancun International Airport, more than 150 flights have been cancelled ahead of Beryl, making landfall Friday morning.

The storm weakened temporarily, but is back now at category three strength, making it a major hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 185 km an hour. The U.S. National Hurricane Center forecasts dangerous storm surge and damaging waves all expected in the hours to come.

Mexico's president urging residents of Tulum to seek shelter and move to higher ground, saying it looks like the storm is going to hit that popular tourist destination. And a second confirmed death in Jamaica, bringing the overall death toll from Beryl to at least nine people. CNN's Rafael Romo is in Kingston where the recovery process is already underway.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Winds and rain pummeled Jamaica for 12 hours. Beryl is the strongest hurricane to strike the island in more than 15 years, tearing a path of destruction through the eastern Caribbean.

Now the cleanup begins.

DICKON MITCHELL, PRIME MINISTER OF GRANADA: To see this level of destruction, it is almost Armageddon like almost total damage or destruction of all buildings.

ROMO (voice-over): Many people living on these small islands lost everything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was just unbelievable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything is gone. Everything you can think about is gone. People are homeless. They need food. They need water.

ROMO (voice-over): The eye of the storm passed less than 20 miles south of Jamaica, which seems to have pulled out of this major hurricane better than expected.

ANDREW HOLNESS, PRIME MINISTER OF JAMAICA: I think Jamaica was feared the worst. The damage was not what we had expected. And so we're very grateful for that.

ROMO (voice-over): Many residents we spoke with agree the.

UNDIENTIFIED FEMALE: Greatest thing we have, life. We're still here. That's the greatest thing.

ROMO: This fishing village just outside Kingston is one of the hardest hit communities in the area. Take a look at how the powerful hurricane winds destroy their sheds and stands that they depend for their livelihoods. Now they wonder how long it's going to take before they can rebuild.

TALEST CHIN, SHOP OWNER: It's going to be expensive to rebuild back everything, but in time it will be done.

ROMO (voice-over): The shop owners guided us through the debris filled beachfront.

TASHA PAULA HALL, SHOP OWNER: One shed there, another one there, and a lot of water coming inside. Rooftop blew off the old system down there, so blew off.

ROMO (voice-over): The damage from Beryl triggering flooding and forcing around 1,000 people into shelters. The storm dumped more than twice the average July rainfall on the city of Kingston in just 24 hours. Never before has the Caribbean been battered by a hurricane this strong this early in the year.

ROMO: Here in Jamaica, Prime Minister Andrew Holness earlier said that about 1,000 people remained in shelters. As for communications, he also said that 70 percent of the network was operational. Power also went out in some areas, but he said that it was being restored already. Rafael Romo, CNN, Kingston, Jamaica.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, it has been a week since his disastrous debate against Donald Trump. And U.S. President Joe Biden is still trying to control the fallout that has sent shivers of panic through the Democrat Party.

[01:20:09]

Mister Biden observed the 4 July holiday with Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House on Thursday, briefly addressing speculation he is exiting the race after someone in the crowd appeared to offer him support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: You got me, man, I'm not going anywhere. All right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, he might be staying put for now, but Biden says he will stop scheduling events after eight in the evening so he can get more sleep. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): White House officials and President Biden himself stumbling on damage control a week after that poor debate performance.

JARED HUFFMAN, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRAT: We've got to be honest about that. So we need a reset, we need a course correction. We've got to acknowledge that this was not just one bad night.

ALVAREZ (voice-over): Biden telling democratic governors gathered at the White House Wednesday his plan is to stop scheduling events after 8:00 p.m. so he can get more sleep. That comment according to sources, leaving some governors privately frustrated.

Biden was also asked about his health by Hawaii Governor Josh Green. According to the New York Times, quote, Mr. Biden replied that his health was fine. It's just my brain. An attempt at humor, according to his campaign chair. That fell flat with some in the room despite their public support.

WES MOORE, MARYLAND GOVERNOR: The president is our nominee. The president is our party leader. And the president has told us, and he was very clear back there that he is in this to win this.

ALVAREZ (voice-over): The White House's evolving reasons for Biden's bad debate are also raising eyebrows. Officials now contradicting the White House press secretary saying Biden was seen by his doctor days after the debate.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He did not get checked out by the doctor. It's a cold, guys. It's a cold. And I know that it affects everybody differently. We have all had colds. And so, no, he was not checked by the doctor.

ALVAREZ: A White House official tells CNN Biden had a, quote, brief check, not a physical, after the debate. In private, Biden has acknowledged that the next few days are critical, packed with a high profile interview and two stops in battleground states and appealing directly to black voters in a pair of new interviews.

BIDEN: I had a bad night. And the fact of the matter is that, you know, it was -- I screwed up. I made a mistake. That's 90 minutes on stage. Look at what I've done in 3.5 years.

ALVAREZ (voice-over): Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Meanwhile, Biden's challenger is calling him a, quote, pile of crap. In a brief, covertly shot video obtained by the Daily Beast. Donald Trump had harsh words for his political rival and Vice President Kamala Harris. Have a listen. Judge yourself a warning. There is graphic language.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: What did I do with the debate the other night?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's so amazing.

TRUMP: We kicked that old, broken-down pile of crap. He's so pathetic. This is so fucking bad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just can't imagine.

TRUMP: But can you imagine that guy dealing with Putin and the president of China, who's a fierce person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, when asked for comment on that video, the Trump campaign referred CNN to an earlier statement which says in part, quote, Joe Biden is weak, failed, dishonest and not fit for the White House. We should also add Trump later proudly posted that video on his Truth Social media page.

A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations is expected to begin in Doha, possibly in the coming hours. Israeli officials are set to meet with Qatari mediators to discuss the specific framework details of the agreement. CNN's Jeremy Diamond with details from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For months, Israel and Hamas have been engaged in start and stop negotiations to try and reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal. And now there appears to be major progress in those negotiations. And that's because those negotiations for months now have focused on trying to reach a framework agreement, the broad strokes of how this deal would work.

But they have been leaving the details, the implementation, the identity of Palestinian prisoners who would be released, for example, leaving all of that to the side while they try and reach a framework. But on Thursday, the Israeli prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, agreeing to enter that more detailed stage of negotiations, sending his Mossad director David Barnea to Doha, Qatar to begin that next phase of negotiations.

And that indicates for all intents and purposes, including according to a senior administration official, that Israel and Hamas effectively have an agreement on a framework for this deal. Now, what remains ahead is still a lot of difficult and complex work, about two to three weeks, according to one source I spoke to of detailed negotiations over the implementation of this agreement.

[01:25:05]

And at the end of those two to three weeks, there's still no guarantee that these two sides will actually be able to broker a ceasefire deal. But nonetheless, this appears to be the furthest that Israel and Hamas have gotten in these negotiations since the last truce between these two sides fell apart after just a week at the very beginning of December.

And so there's certainly a lot of cautious optimism in the air from folks that I have been speaking with. And President Biden speaking with the Israeli prime minister on Thursday, emphasizing that this is an opportunity for the Israeli prime minister to, quote unquote, close out the deal.

And so that is effectively the stage that we're at, which not only has enormous implications for the families of those hostages, for the hostages themselves, for the people of Gaza who have endured nine months of suffering, but also for the region at large, particularly at a time when tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have really been rising in recent weeks.

Particularly over the last 48 hours, we saw Israel taking out a senior Hezbollah commander in a drone strike in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah retaliating with more than 200 rockets and missiles fired towards the Golan Heights, and Israel striking in southern Lebanon with a series of airstrikes.

Certainly a ceasefire in Gaza could provide an opening, that diplomatic opening that diplomats have been waiting for, looking for between Israel and Hezbollah to resolve those tensions well. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And Israel's government has approved one of the largest land seizures in the occupied West bank in decades, the area covering more than 1,200 hectares, or more than 3000 acres of the Jordan Valley in the eastern West bank near Jericho. The government issued the declaration last month, but it wasn't publicly posted until Wednesday.

The Israeli rights group peace now says it is the biggest land grab since the 1993 Oslo Accords. The group monitors illegal settlement expansions and said the seizing of land makes it even more difficult to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel most of the world considers settlements illegal territory.

U.S. political pundits used to say it is the economy stupid when talking about voter priorities. Still to come, we will look at whether Brits voted with their wallets in Thursday's election. If you're watching CNN Newsroom, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:30:06]

FOSTER: Breaking news out of the U.K. where the Labour Party has won a majority of seats in parliamentary elections by a landslide. It appears to be heading that way.

Currently, if were looking at the numbers, Keir Starmer will take over as prime minister after he meets with King Charles at Buckingham Palace a little later today. We're expecting that to happen sooner rather than later now.

The 61-year-old former barrister says his mandate comes with great responsibility and he outline his plans going forward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH LABOUR PARTY LEADER: Together, the values of this change Labour Party are the dried (ph) guiding principle for a new government -- country first, party second.

we have the chance to make work pay because we changed the party. We have the chance to deliver for working people, young people, vulnerable people, the poorest in our society, because we changed the party.

Today, we start the next chapter but giving the work of change the mission of national renewal and start to rebuild our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Things were going so badly for the Tories, Rishi Sunak conceded before the results were even in. He told supporters he took responsibility for the loss to Labour. A number of other prominent conservatives, including defense minister Grant Shapps, Tory Commons leader Penny Mordaunt, they lost their seats. Jacob Rees-Mogg as well, you may remember him.

Reform U.K. party leader Nigel Farage will win a seat in parliament for the very first time. Quentin Peel -- you've covered many of these.

I mean, what's the big theme here? I mean, the turnout wasn't great, so it's not the mandate that you might think it is.

QUENTIN PEEL, ASSOCIATE FELLOW, EUROPE PROGRAMME, CHATHAM HOUSE: It's a landslide.

FOSTER: Yes.

PEEL: But it's an unenthusiastic one.

FOSTER: Yes, it's not 1997.

PEEL: No. And the truth is that the real story here is this collapse of the Conservative Party.

FOSTER: Yes.

PEEL: And they've just come apart and above all, in their own safest seat because what they faced was not only a steady Labour Party, but a rising Reform Party on their right. So they lost key votes in a lot of places where you wouldn't expect them to have done so badly. And they've also lost to the Liberal Democrats.

So Labor has won an extraordinary majority without --

(CROSSTALKING)

FOSTER: Off the back of that.

PEEL: -- yes, without an enormous amount of enthusiasm, I think the turnout for labor is about 36 percent which is not that great.

FOSTER: But to be fair to Keir Starmer, he reflected that in his speech. He wasn't bombastic in any way. I mean, you wouldn't expect him to be, I guess. But he could have been much more excited.

He was really talking about the responsibility going forward, the challenges going forward. He also made a big point of the fact that the party won because it changed and he's talking there about the era where Corbyn was, you know, is far left -- he's at least a leftist leader to the left of Starmer has changed since then.

PEEL: Yes absolutely. And one shouldn't underestimate the achievement of Keir Starmer because the result in 2019, five years ago was just the worst Labour result in history. And now they've suddenly got --

FOSTER: Yes.

PEEL: -- perhaps the biggest majority they've ever had in history. So it is an extraordinary achievement, but the challenges are going to be enormous and we know this.

Throughout the election campaign, they've been talking about what they want to do and saying it's all financed, it's all going to be ok without any massive tax rises and so on.

Well, the truth is --

FOSTER: It wasn't.

PEEL: -- everybody who looks at the challenges --

FOSTER: Yes.

PEEL: -- it's going to cost you.

FOSTER: Yes. And he talks about public services and, you know, if you commit to the NHS, for example, that's all your budget gone, isn't it, in the current?

PEEL: Absolutely. The NHS is really struggling. It's the 76 birthday of the NHS today.

FOSTER: And your birthday.

PEEL: And my birthday. On the day it was founded. And it's a huge challenge.

And where are they going to find the money to do that and the enthusiasm. But nonetheless, Labour is I think coming into realistic and serious about this. And we've had a government for the last few years, a conservative government, which has been all over the place, at war with itself.

So at least that will be steadiness, I think in the face of trouble.

FOSTER: For people watching outside the U.K., how much difference will they see in the way that it's led? Because actually if you look at the manifestos, there's not a huge amount of difference between him and Rishi Sunak.

I think on foreign policy, it's very much steady as she goes. Solid behind Ukraine, good relations hopefully with America, although the big challenge there will be if Donald Trump were to win the presidential election at the end of the year that could be very difficult for Labour to deal with.

[01:34:46]

PEEL: They do want to have much better relations with Europe. And I think this election was an election where the ghost of Brexit was hanging over it. That's what has really destroyed the Conservative Party. The Conservative Party is split hopelessly over the whole issue of Europe.

FOSTER: And the Brexit vote was meant to unite it.

PEEL: It was and it didn't.

FOSTER: No.

PEEL: It failed to unite it. It's actually -- the only person who's really benefited is Nigel Farage. He's come up perhaps because his vote, his supporters felt the Tories hadn't done Brexit right.

FOSTER: So Nigel Farage's Reform Party took a lot of votes than Conservatives, didn't they, across the country. But they didn't get many seats. So he's not going to be a big player. But he is symbolic of how people are feeling, because they've got so many votes.

And when people talk about this vote representing the U.K., bucking the trend in Europe as in resisting that rise of the right is not entirely true, is it? Because you've got Reform? You've also got some pretty mainstream policies which are certainly far right.

PEEL: Yes, I think that's now going to be a battle royal over the wreckage of the Conservative Party.

Will it go to the Farage hard-right? Or will they try and stay in the center. And we've seen that I think even tonight from some of the statements we've seen from people like Suella Braverman on the right, who is really very close to Farage. And on the center of the party, Jeremy Hunt, who might be another serious contender for the leadership, assuming that Rishi Sunak now throws in the towel.

FOSTER: And we should talk briefly about the Greens because in Europe, the Green Party's a big deal and it's legitimate. It's got a lot of credibility in the U.K. It's never really got a foothold.

But it's got a few seats tonight and that's being linked a lot to what's happening in the Middle East actually. And Jeremy Corbyn has spoken to that as well?

PEEL: Yes. I think that obviously the problem for the Green Party in Britain is the first-past-the-post system. Small parties have a real struggle to break through that.

So were seeing that with Reform and we're seeing that with the Greens. The Lib Dems on the other hand, has done quite well because they've sort of learned to play the system. They really focus on the places where they can win.

But there is clearly Green support and across the board here. So they've won urban seats which might normally be Labour seats and they've one rural seat that would normally be a Tory seat.

FOSTER: Yes.

PEEL: So actually they've shown that there their support, although still quite thin because why vote green if they're not going to get into power?

On the other hand it is quite broad, so I think that the greens are certainly the other party to watch as the future, like reform.

FOSTER: Yes, but there you got the two extremes, don't you?

PEEL: Indeed.

FOSTER: Thank you Quentin Peel as ever for joining us on your birthday and the NHS' birthday.

The landslide win for Britain's Labour Party ends 14 years of conservative rule and marks the country's shift to a new government.

CNN's Nic Robertson looks at the sometimes-chaotic era of Tories in power.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: (INAUDIBLE) sinking in the polls, the U.K. Conservative Party's, fifth prime minister since they came to power 14 years ago called time on his government.

RISHI SUNAK, OUTGOING BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: And we will have a general election on the fourth of July. I'm prepared to do what's necessary, even though it's difficult.

ROBERTSON: Rishi Sunak inherited a party, bruised by Brexit, deeply divided over how right-wing to be and increasingly at odds with national sentiment.

His controversial migrant policy to ship illegal arrivals to Rwanda for asylum processing, a fault line in the elections, as was his party's erratic track record.

DAVID CAMERON, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Her Majesty the Queen has asked me to form a new government.

ROBERTSON: 14 years ago, David Cameron led conservatives out of opposition. He was pulled right against his instincts, but pandering to his party's Euro-skeptics, he let the country vote in a referendum to leave the E.U. and lost.

CAMERON: I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction.

ROBERTSON: Theresa May took over.

THERESA MAY, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Following the referendum, we face a time of great national change.

Three tumultuous years and one shambolic election later, collapsing the Conservative majority. Unable to get her party to agree a Brexit deal, May too was gone.

MAY: I'm about to go to Buckingham Palace.

BORIS JOHNSON, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We will --

ROBERTSON: Will next up was Boris Johnson, a populist, dubbed Britain's Trump. Johnson quickly led his party to a resounding election victory.

Johnson savored the scale of his victory and the power of his new government.

[01:39:48]

JOHNSON: And yes, they will have an overwhelming mandate from this election to get Brexit done.

ROBERTSON: Which he did, then came COVID.

JOHNSON: Shook hands with everybody.

ROBERTSON: Initially, he fumbled the response even ending up in hospital ICU with the killer disease.

Followed by so-called party-gate. Office parties in downing street, breaking his own government's strict lockdown rules. These and other political scandals eventually scuppering (ph) his leadership.

LIZ TRUSS, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We now face severe global headwinds caused by Russia's appalling war in Ukraine.

Post-COVID and hitting a Russia induced spike in energy prices. The next PM Liz Truss did the unimaginable. Tanked the U.K. economy almost overnight. Inflation hit double digits. 49 days after taking office Truss resigned.

TRUSS: I am resigning as leader of the Conservative Party.

ROBERTSON: Becoming the shortest-serving U.K. PM in history committee. Sunak stepped up to take over.

SUNAK: Right now our country is facing a profound economic crisis.

ROBERTSON: An economic crisis he claimed to a fixed.

Nic Robertson, CNN -- London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: The election was held against the backdrop of the anemic state of the world's sixth largest economy.

For more now on how the economy affected this outcome I'm joined by CNN business journalist Hanna Ziady.

We're hearing Keir Starmer even now making big promises. I mean none of that -- to be fair, none of the manifestos makes any sense financially did they?

HANNA ZIADY, CNN BUSINESS JOURNALIST: No.

FOSTER: But he's now in a situation where he's actually got to live up to it and he's promising to rebuild public services, but it's impossible to see how he's able to do that.

ZIADY: Exactly. And a number of think tanks came out at the time the IFS, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, really the big ones saying that this is conspiracy of silence. Both the Conservatives and Labour over the state of public finances and what that means for what they can really do to fix public services.

You know, the NHS in a state of crisis with waiting lists over 6 million now. Because the government has this mounting debt burden. So debt now, bigger than the size of the economy.

And of course, the cost to service that debt means that money that you would otherwise spend on public services, on investment has to go towards --

(CROSSTALKING)

FOSTER: Which is the same story across the West.

ZIADY: It is. It is. In fact, the situation may be even worse than the United States, which has an even bigger pile of debt. And that's also kind of approaching 100 percent of GDP.

So it's a problem everywhere, and it means Max, that living standards in even rich economies are going to come under pressure and that has been a big issue in this election.

I mean, the economy has really been essential issue and living standards is what -- it's how people experienced the economy. So we've, as you said, we've had anemic economic growth. That has squeezed living standards, that stopped (ph) public services of funds.

A lot of people in the debates between Sunak and Starmer in the run-up to yesterday, raising the cost-of-living crisis as an issue that they're still grappling with, struggling to pay bills. Weve seen inflation and interest rates high.

So not only the government finances in a bad way, but the economy is in a bad way. And that is the economy that Keir Starmer has inherited.

FOSTER: But when I -- you know, I was in France last week. I am in the U.K. now, it's the same theme when you speak to people, its cost of living and, you know, that's probably the reason the far right is doing well because they've been very clear about how they would help with the cost of -- you know, your cost of living -- you know, a very clear argument and you know, the arguments around that are controversial obviously.

But cost of living is going to get worse now, whoever is in government for a lot of these countries, and that's really what matters to people. And that's going to be the impact on people.

ZIADY: Exactly. And as you say, you know, that -- there've been lots of promises about how to tackle that but are those promises able to -- you know, can we really fulfill those promises when debt is what it is? Because you can't cut taxes an increase spending when you've got mounting government debt.

We saw Liz Truss, the former prime minister tried to do that in a budget. She promised unfunded tax cuts essentially, and bond yields soared, the pound collapsed, mortgage rates went up.

I think a lot of people still infuriated by that.

So Labour is going to have some tough tradeoffs that it's going to have to face up to, now that it's in power. I think what it's going to need to hope for is a step-up in investment by businesses because government cannot deliver the investments in spending that the economy needs. And so it's going to need to rely on businesses to do that.

Labor has laid out some of the ways that have hopes to spur that investment. Its promising policy certainty which would be a welcome thing for businesses, they need stability and certainty.

It's promising planning reform. Britain has very stringent planning laws that make it very difficult to build infrastructure, to build houses where they're needed.

[01:44:49]

ZIADY: We have a chronic housing shortage, which pushes up the cost of rents and mortgages so, you know, back to the cost of living. It's also promised some investment into green energy, which is going

to kind of pay for (INAUDIBLE) says by a windfall tax on oil and gas and also some responsible borrowing. So hopefully some of that will spur the business investment that is so desperately needed.

One area where it's less ambitious in the plans is on repairing that all important trading relationship with the European Union.

FOSTER: Yes.

ZIADY: Still the U.K.'s biggest trading partner. So I think a lot of people would like to see Labour do more on that front. But if it can get investment going because investments has been weak in this economy for years.

FOSTER: The economy can get going and you can get more taxes.

ZIADY: That's it.

FOSTER: Hanna, Thank you so much.

Michael, I think that is the big theme really. If you look across a lot of these elections, people are feeling the cost-of-living crisis and governments are really struggling to deal with it. It's probably going to get worse.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Easy to make promises in a campaign that then paid for them in real life. We'll see how that all works out in the weeks and months ahead.

Max Foster, always good to see you, my friend. Thanks so much. Appreciate that.

All right. Still to come here on the program, we will continue to track Hurricane Beryl's path towards Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The latest forecast and more when we come back.

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HOLMES: Well, as Labour celebrates victory in Britain, Iran is kicking off its presidential runoff. The country's Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cast his ballot right after the polls opened about an hour ago.

Iranians facing a choice between two polar opposites for their next president. Reformist lawmaker Massoud Pezeshkian, who won the most votes in the first round last week and then there's the former nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili.

Dozens of other candidates were banned from even entering the race by Iran's powerful Guardian Council.

The French government says it will deploy an additional 30,000 police and security officers for Sunday's parliamentary election runoff. That coming after a wave of election linked violence. This government spokesperson and her team attacked while campaigning Wednesday. A politician with the National Rally Party assaulted in a market in southeastern France. And a Republican Party candidate saying that left-wing campaigners attacked him in (INAUDIBLE). President Emmanuel Macron has even warned of civil war if the extreme right or left wins Sunday's runoff.

Hurricane Beryl weakened slightly after battering Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, but that was only temporary. It is now back to a dangerous Category 3 storm with sustained winds of 185 kilometers an hour as it now targets Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

Here's a bit of what are left behind in Kingston, Jamaica damaged due to infrastructure, road closures, downed trees, power lines down as well.

[01:49:52]

HOLMES: Jamaica's prime minister telling CNN two deaths have been reported.

And have a look at this dock in the Cayman Islands, heavily damaged by the strong waves.

Beryl now headed towards Mexico's Yucatan, where it will make landfall in the hours ahead.

Our meteorologist Chad Myers bringing us the latest forecast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Clearly this is going to make a big impact here for the Yucatan Peninsula, without a doubt. Along the beaches, we will get storm surge. There's an awful lot of water under this storms still and we do know that it's going to get into the Bay of Campeche and eventually possibly even into the Gulf of Mexico.

Whether it gets farther (ph) to the north or not, there will be significant waves with this. And so for all of this holiday weekend, there will be significant rip current risk all the way from Florida, all the way down to Mexico.

There will be quite a bit of rain as it comes on shore in Mexico or into south Texas. That heavy rainfall will be right on top where we have already seen heavy rainfall from the tropical storm a couple of weeks ago.

Here's a European ensemble forecast, the computer model, and then they change a few things, make it farther north, make it a little bit weaker, a little bit stronger on 50 difference successive runs of this model.

And you want to look for where this whole thing is kind of congealed, where you have all of the lines close together. You look at the ones to the right because it's a possibility. You look at the ones to the left because obviously that is too. But you want to see where most of what we call these members of the European ensemble are going.

And the big question is how much of this high pressure is left to the north of it to push it to the west. The big story here is that Beryl was a major hurricane, category 3 or higher for four days and six hours. The average date of the first major hurricane per year is September 1.

Let that sink in a little bit because that's how warm the water was there in the Caribbean.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And with the U.K. election results still coming in, we can report that the former U.K. prime minister Liz Truss, has lost her seat in parliament. Southwest Norfolk was her seat.

You may remember, she famously served as prime minister for about a month in October 2022. She has lost her seat in parliament.

All right. Quick break here.

When we come back U.S. baseball has a new kind of fan. When we come back, we'll go to Los Angeles where Japanese and are flocking to see L.A. Dodgers star hitter Shohei Ohtani.

Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Welcome back.

Los Angeles seeing an influx of Japanese tourists drawn by Dodgers star hitter Shohei Ohtani, L.A. tourism says the number of visitors from Japan has spiked since 2022. And that nearly all Japanese travelers take in at least one Dodgers game during their trip.

Natasha Chen went to L.A. and talked to some of the fans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Baseball is America's pastime. But here in one of the country's oldest baseball stadiums, you'll see a celebration of Japanese heritage and hear Japanese language tourists, four days a week, all because of six-foot-four --

[01:54:49]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is a superhero.

CHEN: -- star hitter and pitcher.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are proud of him.

CHEN: New Dodger, Shohei Ohtani.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is a good baseball player and so cute. CHEN: After a record-breaking contract with the Dodgers, Ohtani is drawing fans from across the Pacific Ocean in waves.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were expecting a spike, but truly nothing like this.

CHEN: The team has a dozen new Japanese sponsors this year and added six new Japanese-speaking tour guides. Dodger Stadium food now goes beyond the Dodger Dog to the Kurobuta pork sausage dog, sushi, chicken katsu, and Takoyaki, which are round fritters filled with octopus. You can get the original or --

CHEN: It's got a kick. Salsa and cheese, and guacamole and cheese.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: American taste.

CHEN: The Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board says 80 percent to 90 percent of visitors from Japan come to Dodger Stadium at least once during their trip to LA. And many of them end up here in LA's little Tokyo to find the mural they've heard about all the way from Japan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The painting is moving he said.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They scan the QR code at the base of the mural, point your camera phone and they can see Shohei actually swing and see him pitch. And you hear Vin Scully say --

VIN SCULLY, SPORTSCASTER: Time for Dodger baseball.

CHEN: Artist Robert Vargas says he painted this mural to bring everyone together in the city's crossroads of Asian and Latin American communities.

ROBERT VARGAS, ARTIST: L.A. has been hard hit for -- during COVID and I really felt like as a longtime resident of downtown L.A., I wanted to be able to contribute to the AAPI community.

CHEN: Little Tokyo businesses say they have doubled the customers they normally get this time of year. And with the weak Japanese yen, it is a costly trip for travelers from Japan spending U.S. dollars, but they'll find a few local deals.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After he hit a homerun, next day, it will be 50 percent off.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If Shohei hits a home run, we automatically pass out a Shohei shot.

CHEN: You hope this goes on for ten years. Yes.

The Miyako Hotel's general manager says rooms are fully booked during home games.

CHEN: Takayo Hezume (ph) says her son also played baseball and she feels as if Ohtani is Japan's son.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And wait until he starts pitching for us. I'm just like, my God.

CHEN: Whether fans are from his home country, second-generation Japanese American, or have no connection to Japan at all, it is a unifying moment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is amazing.

CHEN: A moment as American as a hot dog on the 4th of July and a Takoyaki covered in guac.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is good for everyone. This is good for all of baseball.

CHEN: Natasha Chen, CNN -- Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: I'm Michael Holmes.

Thanks for spending part of your day with me.

My friend and colleague, Kim Brunhuber will have more news for you after the break.

[01:57:36]

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