Conservative Party makes huge gains by sweeping through traditional Labour heartlands
Boris Johnson praised his Conservative Party for “pulling off” victory as he thanked Labour voters for putting their trust in him.
The Prime Minister said he was “humbled” by the support of former opposition party backers as he delivered his victory speech in central London this morning.
Mr Johnson addressed those who may never have voted Tory in the past and only “lent” their vote this time.
“Your hand may have quivered over the ballot paper before you put your cross in the Conservative box and you may intend to return to Labour next time round,” he said.
Conservative victories in a string of seats in Labour’s former heartlands meant that the party secured its biggest majority in the House Commons since Margaret Thatcher in 1987.
Speaking this morning, Mr Johnson promised to “get Brexit done by January 31, no ifs, no buts, no maybes.”
He said he was humbled by all those who switched their vote to the Tories, vowing “we will never take your support for granted”.
Mr Johnson called Brexit the “irrefutable, inarguable” decision of the British people and said the threat of a second referendum had ended.
Addressing his own party he said: “We did it – we pulled it off, didn’t we?
“We broke the gridlock, we ended the deadlock, we smashed the road block.
“I want to congratulate absolutely everybody involved in securing the biggest Conservative majority since the 1980s.
“Literally – as I look around – literally before many of you were born.”
The PM pledged to “put an end” to the “squabbles and all that nonsense,” confessing: “Because we politicians have squandered the last three years, three and a half years in squabbles.