Boris Johnson has hailed a political “earthquake” which saw traditional Labour voters “lend” the prime minister support at the election and hand him a decisive majority in parliament. The victorious Conservatives are expected to finish up on 364 seats.
Jeremy Corbyn blamed Brexit for Labour’s devastating defeat, as he announced he would stand down as leader after overseeing a “period of reflection”. The party is set to take just 203 seats – its worst election performance since 1935.
Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson lost her seat to the SNP and quit as party leader. Nicola Sturgeon said she had a “strengthened” mandate for a second vote on Scottish independence, as the SNP made a series of gains.
Labour leader expected to break his silence shortly
Jeremy Corbyn is due to speak within the next hour - but journalists trying to doorstep have failed to get any answers.
‘Imagine - when we won elections!’ Labour feud erupts
It all got very heated on GMB this morning – as the feud for the future of the Labour party gets well-and-truly under way.
The left-wing commentator and Corbynista Grace Blakeley: “The policies that have been democratically chosen and developed by the Labour party are incredibly popular.”
The Tory-supporting broadcaster Iain Dale responded: “You have just gone down to the worst defeat since 1987 – what part of that don’t you understand? … You’re a robot!”
Blakely said: “Literally, it’s because of Brexit,” before claiming: “People in this country are in favour of radical left-wing policies.”
Blakely also clashed with former Labour advisor Ayesha Hazarika. The Corbyn-backer told Hazarika it was no good “going back the 1990s”.
Hazarika fired back: “Imagine - when we won elections!”
‘End of Corbynism,’ says David Cameron
The former prime minister David Cameron has welcomed the Conservatives’ election victory.
“It’s an extraordinary result, a powerful result. It marks the end of Corbyn and Corbynism, and that's a very good thing for the country,” he told ITV News, before saying Boris Johnson will have his “full support”.
‘It’s always party before country with you lot isn’t it?’
Among the more entertaining election night clashes involved Michael Gove and Nigel Farage, who appeared together on BBC Radio 4.
The cabinet minister refused to thank the Brexit Party leader for his decision to stand down candidates in seats the Tories won last time, sparking a furious reaction from Farage.
Gove said: “The people I most want to thank are all those who helped fight for a Conservative victory – the candidates who stood, the activists who worked so hard and the voters who appear to have supported us.”
Farage replied: “It’s always party before country with you lot isn’t it? … I wouldn’t expect anybody in the Conservative Party to thanks anybody – they only think about themselves.”
‘Brexit will now happen’: EU chief responds to Tory win
Guy Verhofstadf, the EU parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator, has declared that the UK will soon be leaving the EU. “The EU must now focus on building a new close, fair and lasting partnership with Britain. It is in our common interest,” he tweeted.
It’s worth noting that the PM’s former spokesperson Alison Donnelly is among those who have pointed out the scale of the majority ends Johnson’s reliance on the European Research Group (ERG) in the Tory party – and might allow him to go for a “softer” Brexit next year.
‘You were warned’ – Momentum chief challenged on what went wrong
Laura Parker, the national coordinator of the Corbynista group Momentum, has struggled to explain the scale of the Labour loss.
The BBC’s Emily Maitlis asked: “You were warned so many times, so often, in such clear language, from you own MPs, from people who defected, from voters on the doorstep – what part of that could you not hear?”
Challenged on why Labour lost two and a half million voters since 2017, Parker said she hoped the party would “get them back again when Brexit is done”.
‘Celebrate Boris!’ – Trump enjoys Tory win
Donald Trump has hailed Boris Johnson’s election victory. He claims the two countries are now “free” to strike a “massive” trade deal after Brexit. He also exclaimed: “Celebrate Boris!”
Varadkar urges Johnson to look to ‘next step’ in Brexit process
The Irish premier Leo Varadkar has congratulated Boris Johnson on his election victory and urged him to get on with Brexit legislation.
“The next step is to ratify the withdrawal agreement which guarantees no hard border between North and South, guarantees the protection of the common travel area,” he said.
‘Are you hallucinating?’: Andrew Neil takes on Mark Francois
One of the strangest moments of election night when Mark Francois attempted to give us a history lesson. “In 1989 Russia’s Berlin Wall came down – in 2019 Labour’s red wall came down,” he said on the BBC.
Host Andrew Neil scoffed at the idea the opposition’s northern heartlands were “analogous to a wall of a totalitarian state… are you hallucinating?”
Who will be the next Labour leader?
Jeremy Corbyn made clear he would “not lead” Labour in any future general election campaign, meaning the battle for the future of the party is already way.
We’ve taken a look at some of the main runners and riders to succeed him.
Who will be the next Labour leader after Jeremy Corbyn resigns?
Corbyn says a period of 'reflection' is needed but he will not take Labour into next electionSNP: Handing over indyref2 powers ‘right thing to do’
The UK has been left in a “constitutional crisis,” SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford has warned as he insisted the “right thing” for the PM to do would be to permit a second vote on Scottish independence.
Blackford refused to say if the SNP would take legal action if Boris Johnson fails to grant a Section 30 order, giving Holyrood the power to hold such a ballot.
But he said that the PM “simply can’t continue to say no” to a request - claiming this would be an “affront to democracy”.
Blackford was one of 48 SNP MPs elected, with Nicola Sturgeon’s party having its second best ever result in a Westminster ballot.
While the Tories gained seats south of the border, in Scotland they lost seven of the 13 seats they had held, ending up with six MPs.
While SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon plans to formally request the power to hold a second independence vote within days, the Tory leader has repeatedly stated he will block this.
He said: “In light of the fact that the Scottish Government already has a mandate, in light of the stunning result we have had in the election this week, it is right that the Government in London recognises the right thing to do is to transfer that power.”
Chris Williamson loses his deposit
Former Labour MP Chris Williamson, who stood as an independent, lost his deposit in Derby North after winning just 635 votes.
Williamson was suspended back in February after he claimed Labour had been “too apologetic” over its handling of antisemitism. Labour’s ruling NEC later decided he couldn’t stand for the party.
Tory candidate Amanda Solloway won with a majority of just over 2,500 over her Labour rival.
Voter fraud allegations investigated by police
Cases of suspected voter fraud in several constituencies have been reported to police.
Glasgow City Council reported three cases of alleged “personation” – when a person votes as someone else – following Thursday’s poll while one incident was reported in Paisley and Renfrewshire North.
It is understood one instance is being investigated in each of the Glasgow North, Central and South seats.
A Glasgow City Council spokesman said the authority is “co-operating with the police” on the matter, and Renfrewshire Council has also reported an incident to police.
A council spokesman said: “We have been made aware of an incident earlier today (Thursday) in the Paisley and Renfrewshire North constituency where a member of the public arrived at a polling station to place a vote to find that it had already been cast by another member of the public.”
BBC Scotland reported a further possible case of voter fraud in Stirling.
More than 50 per cent of voters backed Final Say parties
Millions of people who wanted to have a final say on Brexit will be devastated this morning. They can, perhaps, take some comfort in looking at the vote share.
According to ITV, the combined share for parties backing a second EU referendum is 50.3 per cent, compared to the Tories and the Brexit Party on 45.6 per cent.
Corbyn just one ‘factor’ in Labour defeat, says Momentum
Laura Parker, the national coordinator of Momentum, has reluctantly conceded Jeremy Corbyn was “a factor” in the Labour party’s crushing defeat.
“But what we’ve seen here really is Labour beaten by Brexit,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“I do believe that we have broadly speaking got the right policies but clearly something needs to change because we’ve just lost an election,” she added. “In a way, we had such a broad and ambitious policy offering that I do wonder whether some of it got a little bit lost.”
The former Labour minister Alan Johnson raged at the Corbyn “cult” Momentum during Sky News’ election night coverage, telling its co-founder Jon Lansman to “go back to your student politics”.
The veteran of the Blair–Brown governments raged: “Everyone knew that [Corbyn] couldn’t lead the working class out of a paper bag.”
‘Please stand down’: Labour figures want Corbyn to go now
Labour figures are piling pressure on Jeremy Corbyn to quit immediately. Corbyn said he would not lead the party into the next election, but would stay on for a “period of reflection”.
Margaret Hodge who held her London seat, tweeted: “Corbyn talking about a period of reflection. I’ve reflected. You failed. Please stand down.”
Ian Murray, who held his Edinburgh South seat, said: “Every door I knocked on, and my team and I spoke to 11,000 people, mentioned Corbyn … we must change course and fast.”
Ruth Smeeth was among the several defeated candidates blaming the leader for the humiliation. “Corbyn’s actions on antisemitism have made us the nasty party,” she said. “We are the racist party.”
Phil Wilson, who lost Tony Blair's former seat of Sedgefield to the Tories, was highly critical. “Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership was a bigger problem. To say otherwise is delusional,” he tweeted. “The party's leadership went down like a lead balloon on the doorstep.”
Labour’s Jess Phillips was asked if it was Brexit, Corbyn or policies that were too far to the left which caused the Labour defeat and she said it was “all of those things and many other things”.
Labour figures tell Jeremy Corbyn to resign immediately after disastrous election night
Anger at humiliated leader's plan to stay on for 'period of reflection' - which could last many monthsSturgeon gesticulates wildly at Swinson’s defeat
If you missed it, Nicola Sturgeon was filmed celebrating as she learned an SNP candidate had beaten Jo Swinson in the general election.
Scotland’s first minister was seen letting out a lengthy cheer and shaking her fists in jubilation live on Sky News as the East Dunbartonshire was announced.
Nicola Sturgeon celebrates wildly on live TV as Jo Swinson loses her seat
Lib Dem leader who claimed she could become PM unseated by 27-year-oldBad night for independents and centrist defectors
It wasn’t a good night for the independents. David Gauke and Dominic Grieve, the former Tories who rebelled over Brexit, failed to keep their seats.
And every centrist MP who defected from Labour and the Tories looks to have lost their seat at the general election.
The three most high-profile Lib Dem defectors – Chuka Umunna, Sam Gyimah and Lucinia Berger – failed to win their London target seats, as did the other defectors.
More details here:
Every centrist MP who defected from Labour and Tories loses seat
Independents and defectors to the Lib Dems and Change UK failed to win any seatsConservatives hold Arundel & South Downs
The Tories have held the second last seat to declare, with Andrew Griffith winning a 22,000-plus majority in Arundel & South Downs.
Dominic Cummings: Remainers ‘didn’t understand what was going on’
The PM’s right-hand man Dominic Cummings if he could take any credit for the Conservative election victory. “No, not at all,” he replied.
He added: “After the shock of the referendum MPs and journalists should have taken a deep breath and had a lot of self-reflection of why they misunderstood what was going on in the country but instead a lot of people just doubled down on their own ideas and f***** it up even more.
“That’s why something like this happens against expectations.
“All these better than average educated Remainer campaigner types who have waved around for eight weeks, for the last four months and didn’t understand what was going on and didn’t understand they were driving everyone mad.”
Cummings continued: “Hopefully now they’ll learn because it’s not good for the country, the whole dynamic to carry on.
“MPs need to reflect, the media needs to reflect and they need to realise that the conversations they have in London are a million miles away from reality.”
