Conservatives Headed for Commanding Majority in U.K. Vote: ‘Brexit Will Happen’

Source: N.Y Times

December 13, 2019 at 00:15

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, center right, and his partner, Carrie Symonds, arriving at the vote counting center in Uxbridge in west London early Friday.Credit...Oli Scarff/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The strong showing is vindication for Boris Johnson, who now has a chance to put his personal stamp on Britain, beginning with Brexit.

LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party appeared on course Thursday to win a commanding majority in the British Parliament, a striking victory that redraws the lines in British politics and paves the way for the country’s exit from the European Union early next year.

The Conservatives were projected to win 365 seats in the House of Commons, versus 196 for the Labour Party, according to the BBC’s projections, with about three-quarters of Parliament’s seats decided. That would give the Conservatives a 76-seat majority, their largest since that amassed by Margaret Thatcher in 1987.

As the results began flowing in from individual districts, they pointed to a radical reconfiguration of Britain’s political map. The Conservative Party was projected to win dozens of Labour seats in the industrial north and Midlands, shattering the so-called red wall that has undergirded the Labour Party for generations.

A projection of the exit polls in London on Thursday evening.Credit...Tolga Akmen/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

For Mr. Johnson, whose brief tenure has been marked by serial defeats in Parliament, legal reversals and ceaseless upheaval, it was a resounding vindication. Defying predictions that he would be tossed out of his job, the prime minister now seems assured of leading Britain through its most momentous transition since World War II.

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