LONDON Pro-European centrist Keir Starmer was on Saturday unveiled as new Labour party leader, heralding a shift in Britain’s main opposition party after a crushing election defeat under veteran socialist Jeremy Corbyn and years of ideological infighting. The 57-year-old former chief state prosecutor defeated Corbyn loyalist Rebecca Long-Bailey and backbencher Lisa Nandy in a lengthy campaign sparked by Corbyn’s resignation after December’s loss at the polls to Boris Johnson’s Conservatives. Angela Rayner becomes the new deputy leader, Labour announced on Twitter, after it was forced to cancel a special conference because of the coronavirus outbreak. Starmer, who was Labour’s Brexit spokesman, called his election “the honor and privilege” of his life and vowed to “engage constructively” with Johnson’s Conservative government
