Brexit done deal after BoJo’s crushing win
2 min read
The victory is the Conservative Party’s biggest since Margaret Thatcher captured a third term in 1987 — “literally before many of you were born,” Johnson told supporters on Friday
In its biggest victory since Margaret Thatcher captured a third term in 1987 — literally before many of us were even born, as prime minister Boris Johnson put it — the Conservative Party swept the opposition aside securing 364 seats — 47 more than they grabbed in election of 2017. Riding on the promise to ‘get Brexit done,’ Britain’s prime minister secured a crushing victory in the UK’s general election, cruising past Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party. The latter won 203 seats, which was 59 less from the previous vote.
“We did it,” Johnson said. “We smashed it, didn’t we?” The PM said he would work ‘flat out’ and lead a ‘people’s government’.
As on Friday, just one constituency – the Cornish seat of St Ives – was left to declare. Among the others, the SNP had 48 MPs, Liberal Democrats had 11 and the DUP eight. While Johnson rejoiced, Jeremy Corbyn declared he would not be fighting another election as a Labour leader.
Leaving the European Union as one United Kingdom, taking back control of our laws, borders, money, our trade, immigration system, delivering on the democratic mandate of the people
Boris Johnson
Johnson called it a “new dawn” for the country in his victory speech, which was reminiscent of comments by Labour’s Tony Blair after his 1997 general elections victory. Johnson thanked Labour voters who had backed the Conservatives for the first time. “You may intend to return to Labour next time round, and if that is the case, I am humbled that you have put your trust in me, and I will never take your support for granted,” the BBC quoted Johnson as saying.
The victory means that Johnson, with new Tory MPs voting through his Brexit bill, will take the country out of the European Union by January 31 next year — almost a year later than originally planned and 3.5 years after Britain voted to exit the bloc.
The Labour Party suffered heavily as voters in former industrial areas in the Midlands and north of the country England, who had backed Brexit in the June 2016 referendum, swung towards the Conservatives.
US President Donald Trump congratulated Boris Johnson on a “great WIN” and promising to strike a “massive new new Trade Deal” between the US and UK.
