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New Tory Government: Boris Johnson is back in the Commons - and City Hall

Mr Johnson’s election as Conservative MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip will mark his return to Westminster after a seven-year absence

Sarah Cassidy
Friday 08 May 2015 13:11 EDT
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Boris Johnson, in his victory speech in Uxbridge, said outdated politics had been rejected
Boris Johnson, in his victory speech in Uxbridge, said outdated politics had been rejected (Getty Images)

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The Mayor of London Boris Johnson will juggle two jobs after winning a parliamentary seat – but across the capital, Labour performed better than elsewhere.

Labour defied national trends to increase its vote share in the city – and held 45 of the capital’s 73 seats by the end of the night.

Mr Johnson’s election as Conservative MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip will mark his return to Westminster after a seven-year absence. For the next year he will juggle his duties in the Commons with his role at City Hall, having previously pledged to stay in the job until his term ends next year.

In his acceptance speech, Mr Johnson said that the British public had “decisively rejected any attempt to take this country back to the 1970s, decisively rejected old-fashioned and outdated politics of division.” He added: “It is clear to me the people of this country want us to go forward with sensible, moderate policies that this Conservative Party has produced over the past five years and that have led to a sustained economic recovery.”

Elsewhere in London, Labour won target seats such as Enfield North where Joan Ryan – who held the seat for 13 years from 1997 until being beaten in 2010 by Tory Nick de Bois – was returned with a majority of 1,086.

Boris will now have to juggle two jobs
Boris will now have to juggle two jobs (Getty Images)

Brent Central was also won by Labour where Dawn Butler took the seat from the Liberal Democrats with a majority of nearly 20,000. The seat had previously been held by former Lib Dem education minister Sarah Teather, who stood down.

The party also increased slender majorities in London seats they had only narrowly held in 2010, including in Hampstead and Kilburn, which had been the UK’s most marginal constituency with a Labour majority of just 42.

Labour’s Tulip Siddiq retained the seat for her party, winning by 1,138 votes and replacing Glenda Jackson, who retired. In Holborn and St Pancras, Sir Keir Starmer, the former director of public prosecutions, held on to the seat vacated by another retired veteran, Frank Dobson. Sir Keir increased his party’s majority to more than 17,000, up from 9,942 in 2010.

Labour’s Wes Streeting – currently deputy leader of Redbridge Council – was elected as MP in Ilford North, taking the seat from the Tory, Lee Scott.

Labour’s relative success in London – and the failure of Ukip to make a breakthrough – echoes the results of the 2014 European election, when the party doubled the number of its MEPs from the region.

Support for the Liberal Democrats collapsed, mirroring the dire fortunes across the country. The party held just one seat, with Tom Brake – who held off a Tory challenge to win his fifth term as MP for Carshalton and Wallington.

In 2010, the Liberal Democrats won seven seats in London. The casualties included Lynne Featherstone, who lost Hornsey and Wood Green and former Business Secretary Vince Cable who was defeated by the Tories’ Tania Mathias in Twickenham.

The party’s former deputy leader, Simon Hughes, lost to Labour’s Neil Coyle in Bermondsey and Old Southwark after 32 years as an MP.

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