![\"Gordon](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Gordon-Brown-and-Keir-Starmer-e1778324162554.jpg\")
\t\tGordon Brown has returned to support Starmer’ after tough election results. PA\t<\/p>\n\t\t\tSaturday 09 May 2026 11:58 am\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\tGordon Brown has returned to support Starmer’ after tough election results. PA\t<\/p>\n
Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has returned to support Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s premiership as a special envoy for global finance. <\/p>\n
The appointment was made after bruising election results across the country, particularly in Wales and Scotland where Labour lost control. <\/p>\n
Starmer<\/a> resisted calls for his resignation as he took responsibility for what he described as a \u201ctough\u201d set of local election results.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos. We were elected to deal with these challenges and that\u2019s what we will do,\u201d Starmer said.<\/p>\n Labour has held on to some key London boroughs, including Merton and Hammersmith, though it lost Wandsworth and Westminster in tightly-fought battles with the Tories.<\/p>\n The Greens took Hackney from Labour as well as Waltham Forest. <\/p>\n Nigel Farage hailed a \u201chistoric change in British politics\u201d as Reform gained Havering, its first London council, as well as a swathe of seats in the North of England.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n \t\t\tUK borrowing costs waver as Starmer insists he will not \u2018walk away\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said her party is showing \u201csigns of renewal\u201d despite losing 80 council seats so far. The Tories kept Kensington and Chelsea and Hillingdon, plus Bromley and Bexley.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Zack Polanski\u2019s resurgent Greens targeted inner-city areas like Lewisham, Lambeth and Hackney \u2013 as well as Starmer\u2019s backyard in Camden. Camden was held by Labour despite huge surges in support for the Greens. <\/p>\n Nigel Farage\u2019s Reform, on the other hand, were hopeful they could take outer boroughs like Hillingdon, Bromley and Bexley. They failed in each of the three councils but took Havering.<\/p>\n Starmer\u2019s party are defending 2,557 seats at this set of elections and some pundits suggested they could lose up to 1,800. As of Saturday morning, it lost nearly 1,400 seats. <\/p>\n Markets have held their nerve on Friday, but analysts have warned the \u201cwoo-woo\u201d bond market could fall into chaos as the political aftermath of the elections takes hold.<\/p>\n Get yourself up to date with our election preview<\/a> and profiles<\/a> of the state of play in every single London borough.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll bring you every London result as it comes in, plus key market and political reaction, so stay tuned.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n