Boris Johnson has clinched a historic Conservative general election victory, winning a string of seats from Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party in its traditional heartlands.

Johnson’s gamble of triggering a snap poll in the hope of uniting the Brexit vote in leave-supporting seats across Wales, the Midlands and the north of England paid off spectacularly, setting him on course for the Tories’ strongest performance for decades.

The prime minister addressed the nation just after 7am, saying Brexit was now the “irrefutable, irresistible, unarguable decision of the British people” and promising those who lent their vote to the Tories in traditional Labour areas: “I will not let you down.”

Johnson paid a visit to the Queen at Buckingham Palace to advise her that he had enough support in parliament to form a government just after 11am. He is expected to give a longer statement to the country mid-afternoon.

Corbyn is yet to give a speech conceding defeat but he was unapologetic in the early hours of the morning as he used his acceptance speech in Islington North to attack the media’s portrayal of him and his party, and insist Labour’s policies had been “extremely popular”.

He conceded it had been “a very disappointing night for the party with the result that we have got”, and suggested Brexit had overshadowed other issues. He said he would not lead Labour into another general election, but that the party needed a “period of reflection”, during which he would remain in place to oversee.

Play Video 1:41 Jeremy Corbyn says he will not lead Labour into another election – video

Immediately after the polls closed at 10pm, the exit poll, which pointed to a much larger than expected Conservative majority of 86, sent shockwaves through both of the main parties.

The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, appeared pale and surprised when confronted with the figures on the BBC. Asked whether he and Corbyn would stand down if it proved accurate, he said: “We will see the results in the morning and decisions will be made then.”

The former mining constituency of Blyth Valley in Northumberland was an early Conservative gain, bearing out the exit poll’s prediction. It had been held by Labour since its creation and was No 116 on the Tory target list.

Scores of other long-held Labour seats, including Workington, Wrexham and Bishop Auckland, turned blue as the night went on, and by shortly after 5am the Conservatives had secured a majority.

The exit poll was updated as the night went on, and by 5am was projecting a slightly smaller Conservative majority of 74 with a 45% share of the vote, which would be the Tories’ highest since 1970.

Johnson gave his victory speech in central London in front of a slogan claiming that he would lead “the people’s government”. He took a triumphalist tone on Brexit, saying the “miserable threats of a second referendum” were over and it was time for pro-EU campaigners to “put a sock in it”.

But the prime minister took a more humble tone towards those in Labour heartlands who voted for him and helped turn swaths of the north and Midlands blue.

“You may only have lent us your vote, you may not think of yourself as a natural Tory and you may intend to return to Labour next time round. If that is the case I am humbled that you have put your trust in me. I will never take your support for granted,” he said.

Play Video 3:55 UK election 2019: how the Tory triumph unfolded – video report

Earlier, he told a gathering of aides at Conservative party headquarters: “Many of us has dreamed of a day when the Conservative party genuinely speaks for every part of the country. We have won from Workington to Woking … including seats the Conservatives have not won for 100 years or more. Wrexham. Tony Blair’s old seat in Sedgefield. We turned Redcar Blue-car.”

He also suggested the Tory party would have to change to reflect the interests of its new seats across the Midlands, north of England and Wales.

“We must understand now what an earthquake we have created. The way in which we have changed the political map in this country. We have to grapple with the consequences of that. We have to change our own party. We have to rise to the level of events. We have to rise to the challenge that the British people have given us.”

He is now expected to push his Brexit deal through parliament, with a second reading before Christmas, exploiting his new-found freedom to operate without the support of the Democratic Unionist party or the hard-Brexit supporting European Research Group.

As the scale of the defeat began to sink in, staunch Corbyn loyalists were quick to blame Brexit for the party’s performance, while others pointed the finger at the leader’s personal unpopularity.

Ignore democracy and to be quite honest the consequences will come back and bite you up the backside. Ian Lavery

Labour’s chair, Ian Lavery, a Corbyn ally, said: “What we are seeing in the Labour heartlands is people very aggrieved at the fact the party basically has taken a stance on Brexit the way they have – 17.4 million voting for Brexit and basically being ignored is not a good recipe,” he said. “Ignore democracy and to be quite honest the consequences will come back and bite you up the backside.”

But the former Labour cabinet minister Alan Johnson said: “It’s Corbyn. Jeremy Corbyn was a disaster for Labour – everyone knew that he couldn’t lead the working class out of a paper bag.”

Appearing on ITV with Jon Lansman, the founder of the pro-Corbyn group Momentum, Johnson said: “I want this cult out of the party. I want Momentum gone.”

There was a significant redrawing of the electoral map in Scotland, too, with the Lib Dem leader, Jo Swinson, losing her East Dunbartonshire seat, as the SNP made significant gains, also taking seats from Labour.

Play Video 0:50 Jo Swinson warns against 'wave of nationalism' as she loses seat to SNP – video

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said she would next week seek the powers to call

a Scottish independence referendum, setting out the legal case in a new document.

“The Scottish government will next week publish the detailed democratic case for a transfer of power to enable a referendum to be put beyond legal challenge,” she said in a speech in Edinburgh. “I have been clear that a referendum must be the responsibility of the Scottish parliament.”



There were few bright spots for Labour, but in a rare gain the party took Putney, a remain-voting seat in the capital. Several Labour frontbenchers lost their seats, including the shadow Brexit minister, Jenny Chapman, the shadow Scotland secretary, Lesley Laird, and the shadow environment secretary, Sue Hayman.

Laura Pidcock, a Corbyn loyalist who had been tipped as a potential future leader, was also unexpectedly defeated by the Tories in the former mining seat of North West Durham.

Independents who left the traditional parties this year in an effort to reclaim the centre ground of politics were comprehensively wiped out, with Anna Soubry, Chuka Umunna and Luciana Berger all losing their seats.

Caroline Flint, who lost her Don Valley seat to the Tories, said “those influential Labour figures living in north London postcodes” should accept that “Labour cannot simply be a party of big cities and university towns, or just a party of the young”.

Labour also lost Sedgefield to the Tories. Phil Wilson, who had represented Tony Blair’s former seat since 2007, appeared emotional as he said it would be difficult for the party to re-establish a bond with the voters.

Play Video 7:41 'We smashed the roadblock': Boris Johnson's election victory speech in full – video

“I genuinely believe that the Corbyn leadership is the issue in this election and to say that it isn’t is delusional,” he said. “Brexit is an issue but for every one person who raised Brexit on the doorstep with me, five people raised the leadership of the Labour party. But it isn’t just Jeremy Corbyn, it’s his worldview – they don’t see him as being patriotic, they see him as being anti-west.”

He said Corbyn should take a “long hard look at himself and what he’s allowed to happen to the Labour party”.