Candidates say Jeremy Corbyn was the number one issue on the doorstep (Picture: METROGRAB)

A shocked looking Jeremy Corbyn was helped out of his house by aides early this morning, as the scale of the Labour defeat became clear.

The Labour leader was spotted leaving his London home after the exit poll and is facing calls to resign after the party looks set to suffer its worst defeat since 1935.

The exit poll predicted a landslide victory for the Conservative party, with the Tories predicted to win 368 seats, a majority of 86, which would be the biggest majority for the party since 1987.

The predicted slump of 52 seats for Labour, has led to calls for Mr Corbyn to step down, in what is increasingly looking likely to be his second general election defeat.




Shadow chancellor John McDonnell sought to blame a public discourse in which ‘Brexit has dominated’ and defended the left-wing policies adopted by him and Mr Corbyn.

Ian Murray, who previously served as shadow Scotland secretary under Mr Corbyn and is trying to retain Edinburgh South, rejected the official narrative.

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A shocked looking Jeremy Corbyn was bustled out of his house by aides early this morning (Picture: Sky News)

John McDonnell sought to blame a public discourse in which ‘Brexit has dominated’ for the result (Picture: Rex Features)

He said: ‘Every door I knocked on, and my team and I spoke to 11,000 people, mentioned Corbyn.

‘Not Brexit but Corbyn. I’ve been saying this for years.

‘The outcome is that we’ve let the country down and we must change course and fast.’

Labour’s Gareth Snell predicted his own defeat ahead in the Brexit-backing former stronghold of Stoke-on-Trent Central and called for the resignation of Mr Corbyn on the BBC.

He said: ‘I’m going to lose badly and this is the start of 20 years of Tory rule.’

Phil Wilson, who faces a struggle to retain Tony Blair’s former seat of Sedgefield, was highly critical of the Brexit defence.

The exit poll predicts an 86 seat majority for the Tories

He tweeted: ‘For @UKLabour leadership to blame Brexit for the result is mendacious nonsense.

‘Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership was a bigger problem. To say otherwise is delusional.

‘The Party’s leadership went down like a lead balloon on the doorstep. Labour’s leadership needs to take responsibility.’

Former culture secretary Ben Bradshaw, who was trying to retain Exeter for Labour, said he has the data to show the ‘overwhelming negative’ among every voting group was the leadership and not Brexit.

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Ruth Smeeth, Labour candidate for Stoke-on-Trent, said she had ‘definitely lost’ the seat she held since 2015 – and called on Mr Corbyn to resign.

She said: ‘There is absolutely no justification for why he’s still there’ and added the party had failed to deal with anti-Semitism.

Labour politician Jess Phillips said ‘tonight was terrible and heartbreaking’.

When asked if it was Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn or policies that were too far to the left that caused the Labour defeat and she replied: ‘It was all of those things and many other things, and if we think that we can do a listicle check list of what went wrong, and just come up with a listicle check list of what we have to do next time for it to be right, we will inevitably end up in an even worsening position.



‘And the Labour Party is now on its fourth election defeat. It hasn’t won a General Election since 2005. This is not a time for easy answers, as much as I wish it was, I wish there was some silver bullet but I also wish I was a size 10.’

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She added: ‘The country has made a clear statement about how it feels about the Labour party’.

Ahead of the election, Labour sources had been predicting that Mr Corbyn would stay on as interim leader into the new year as a leadership battle is fought if the Tories won a majority.

Mr McDonnell told the BBC he was shocked by the exit poll, having thought the polls were narrowing in what he described as a ‘Brexit election’.

He said: ‘If it is anywhere near this it will be extremely disappointing for the party overall and for our movement’.

On his and Mr Corbyn’s future, he cautioned that the actual results needed to be seen but said: ‘The appropriate decisions will be made and we’ll always make the decisions in the best interests of our party.’

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Labour’s Dagenham East candidate Margaret Hodge, a vocal critic of Mr Corbyn over his handling of anti-Semitism in the party, said the poll suggested an ‘utter failure’ of ‘Corbynism’.

Jeremy Corbyn described the 2019 General Election outcome as ‘very disappointing’ and said he will not lead the party in any future election campaign, during a speech after retaining his seat in Islington North.

He said Brexit had ‘polarised’ the debate and had a massive impact on the campaign but vowed to fight for social justice.


Mr Corbyn said a period of ‘reflection was needed’ for the party.

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