Boris Johnson has told his top ministers "You ain't seen nothing yet!", as he vowed to work "flat out" to repay voters who delivered his thumping election win.

Holding his first cabinet meeting since securing an 80-strong House of Commons majority, the prime minister told his top team: "The voters of this country have changed this government and our party for the better and we must repay their trust now by working flat out to change our country for the better.

"We should have absolutely no embarrassment about saying we are a people's government, and this is a people's cabinet.

"We are going to be working on the priorities of the British people and that's what they want us to do.

"We must recognise people lent us their votes at this election.


"It was a seismic election but we need to repay their trust and work 24 hours a day, work flat out, to deliver."

Referring to his pre-election spell in 10 Downing Street, between July and November, Mr Johnson added: "Of course the first 100 days were very busy, 140 days or whatever it was, you may remember is was a very frenetic time - but you ain't seen nothing yet folks!

"We're going to have to work even harder because people have a high level of expectation and we must deliver for them."

PM cites new speaker's pet parrot in speech

The prime minister's words echoed ex-US president Ronald Reagan's "you ain't seen nothing yet" message prior to his landslide 1984 election win, in which he won 49 out of 50 states.

After the Tories took swathes of former Labour seats in the North and Midlands last week, the prime minister also laid out the task ahead for his government.

"There is a huge, huge agenda of delivering social justice, of addressing every problem from social care to homelessness, to levelling up and uniting across our country with better infrastructure, better education and technology," he said.

"That's what we want to do. We're Conservatives and we believe in extending opportunity across the whole UK and that's what we're going to devote ourselves to."

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The cabinet meeting preceded the first sitting of the House of Commons since the general election, with Mr Johnson planning to beef up his Brexit legislation to outlaw a delay to the UK exiting its status quo relationship with Brussels.

In a move that could make a no-deal Brexit more likely, the prime minister is radically altering the EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill to prevent parliament extending the transition period beyond the end of next year.

Mr Johnson now plans to use his huge majority to enshrine the end of the transition period, in December 2020, in law - with or without a trade deal - in the bill, which MPs will vote on this Friday.

Announcing the move, a Number 10 source said: "Last week the public voted for a government that would get Brexit done and move this country forward - and that's exactly what we intend to do starting this week.

"Our manifesto made clear that we will not extend the implementation period and the new Withdrawal Agreement Bill will legally prohibit Government agreeing to any extension."

'Merry Brexmas': PM welcomes new Tory MPs

During the election campaign the prime minister promised he would not seek any extension to the transition period. That pledge persuaded Nigel Farage not to stand Brexit Party candidates in Conservative-held seats.

As well as making it illegal for parliament to extend the Brexit transition period, the prime minister is also dropping concessions made before the election to Tory Remainers and the opposition parties from the Withdrawal Agreement Bill - althoough Downing Street said they would be dealt with in separate legislation.

Reacting to the move, Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell said: "This is a sign of things to come from a government that will sacrifice our basic rights and certainty for business at the altar of turning the UK into a Trump-supporting tax haven."

Congratulated @BorisJohnson on the phone for his electoral victory. We agreed to launch negotiations asap on future EU-UK partnership. We will meet at the beginning of 2020. The UK will always be a friend, partner and ally. 🇪🇺🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/w4ntXreHaJ — Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) December 17, 2019

The prime minister spoke to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on the telephone on Tuesday morning, who congratulated him on his election victory.

Mr Johnson's official spokesman said: "The president congratulated the prime minister on his success in the election and they agreed to work together with great energy to agree a future partnership by December 2020."

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Later on Tuesday, the first business in the Commons sees the re-election of the Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, followed by two days of MPs signing in and swearing the oath.

And, as Labour continues its recriminations over its defeat, Jeremy Corbyn is due to face a stormy reception at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party.

Image: Sir Lindsay Hoyle will be re-elected as Speaker on Tuesday

With a Labour leadership election due to start in the New Year, frontrunner Rebecca Long-Bailey is being tipped to run for leader on a joint ticket with her close friend Angela Rayner running for deputy leader.

Opposition MPs are also attacking the prime minister's decision to keep Nicky Morgan as culture secretary and award her a peerage after her decision to quit as an MP.

"You abandon your constituents, eschew the tough work of representing a constituency but remain in the cabinet," said Labour MP Chris Bryant. "That really is two fingers up to democracy."

Labour MP Jo Stevens said it was "absolutely disgraceful" that MPs would not be able to scrutinise or challenge her on the performance of her department.

The Liberal Democrats' culture spokeswoman, Layla Moran, said the appointment showed why reform of the Lords was needed, while the SNP's Pete Wishart accused the Tories of showing "disdain for democracy".

"It seems as though the Tories don't even need to bother standing in an election and be held to account by the public in order to keep the perks of ministerial posts," he said.

Image: Nicky Morgan will remain in the cabinet

The decision to keep her on appeared to surprise even the now Baroness Morgan, who had been widely expected to be replaced in a mini-reshuffle on Mr Johnson's top team.

"Well it turns out that leaving the cabinet is harder than leaving the EU!" she tweeted.

Mr Johnson replaced former Welsh secretary Alun Cairns, who was forced to resign on the first official day of the general election campaign, with Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire MP Simon Hart.

Environment minister Zac Goldsmith lost his Richmond Park seat at the election, but it has been speculated that he too could be appointed to the House of Lords in order to continue his ministerial duties.