General Election: Boris Johnson praises ‘stonking mandate’ for Brexit
The Tories have won their biggest parliamentary majority since 1987 in a night where Labour seats turned blue in a transformative General Election.
Boris Johnson’s strategy to break the parliamentary deadlock succeeded spectacularly to see the Prime Minister return to parliament with at least a 362 seats.
That is well above Labour’s disastrous election returns, which saw the party shed 59 seats to hit 203.
Read more: Election night live: Watch as results come through across UK
The PM today told staffers at the Conservative party headquarters that “no one can now refute” his “stonking mandate” to deliver Brexit.
“We must understand now what an earthquake we have created,” he said, according to Buzzfeed.
“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 risen to the challenge that the British people have given us,” the Buzzfeed recording shows him saying.
It appears that Johnson’s message of “Get Brexit Done” has cut through to voters across the UK, with dozens of red seats turning blue – even in historical Labour strongholds.
Labour are on track to win just 203 seats, currently holding 300.
The Prime Minister hailed the results as a “powerful mandate” as voters returned him to his seat of Uxbridge in his General Election victory.
“At this stage it does look as though this one-nation Conservative government has been given a powerful new mandate, to get Brexit done and not just to get Brexit done but to unite this country and to take it forward,” he said.
“I think this will turn out to be a historic election that gives us now, in this new government, the chance to respect the democratic will of the British people, to change this country for the better and to unleash the potential of the entire people of this country.”
Read more: Sterling soars as Tories look on track for huge majority
“That is what we will now do, and if we are lucky enough to be returned as the exit poll seems to suggest then that work will begin … today.”
Meanwhile US President Donald Trump tweeted: “Looking like a big win for Boris in the U.K.!”
Trump went on to add that the General Election result means that Britain and the US can now push on with signing a major post-Brexit trade deal.
Read more: Trump promises ‘massive’ trade deal after Boris Johnson scores majority