Labour mps who voted for brexit

As polls closed in Peterborough last night Labour's campaigners looked defeated. Turns out they were just exhausted. They came to the KingsGate conference centre on Peterborough's outskirts and part of the party machine seemed ready to throw in the towel. The constituency, which voted 60.9% for Leave in the 2016 referendum, had been regarded as potentially fertile ground for the Brexit Party to win their first MP just weeks after they topped the European Election polls. But the mood of local campaigners, grimacing through the aches and pains of months of doorknocking, soon lifted. They knew what the Brexit Party was about to learn: they'd just run one of the biggest by-election campaigns the party has ever seen. They were about to prove why Labour's ground operation has been rightly feared by opponents, even when the national political winds aren't blowing their way. But after losing their sitting MP to a criminal conviction for perverting the course of justice, taking a hammering in … [Read more...] about How Labour beat Nigel Farage – inside the winning Peterborough campaign

Boris Johnson pledged to repay the trust of former Labour voters who switched to back the Tories as he held a victory rally today deep in what was once red territory following his landslide election victory. The Prime Minister went to Sedgefield, the former seat of Tony Blair, which was a brick in the so-called Red Wall that collapsed in the face of a blue wave on Thursday night. Addressing supporters he said he appreciated that some people had broken 'the voting habits of generations' to support him but they had helped to 'change the country for the better'. He said: 'I want the people of the North East to know that we in the Conservative Party and I will repay your trust - and everything that we do, everything that I do as your Prime Minister, will be devoted to repaying that trust. 'And first of all what are we going to do? We're going to get Brexit done.'   And he added that he wanted to bring the country together, saying he would also focus on the NHS, education and law … [Read more...] about ‘I will repay your trust’: Boris Johnson hails voters in Labour’s former heartlands who switched to the Tories to deliver landslide election victory as he vows to give the country back its ‘mojo’ on visit to Blair’s old constituency

Labour's 'red wall' of seats crumbled and turned blue in this General Election as voters rejected Jeremy Corbyn and delivered him a humiliating defeat. The Tories snatched Labour seats across the industrial heartlands of the Midlands and north of England - many of them for the first time - as Brexit-supporting communities backed Boris Johnson. They include the seaside town of Redcar, which had never before elected a Conservative, and the constituency of Leigh in Wigan, which had been in Labour's hands for almost 100 years. Ex-mining communities such as Sedgefield, once held by former Labour prime minister Tony Blair, Bishop Auckland and Workington also fell. Traditional Labour-voting constituencies that featured in Mirror Online's revealing Town 2020 series, which explored communities facing high levels of deprivation, were swept up in the blue wave. In that series, residents who spoke to our reporters told how they felt ignored by politicians and were tired of problems such as child … [Read more...] about Fall of the Red Wall: Labour’s northern heartlands that have turned Tory blue

Labour's John McDonnell has confirmed that he is stepping down from frontline politics once a new Labour leader is selected. Mr McDonnell, a key Jeremy Corbyn ally, said he would be leaving the shadow cabinet - and others will be doing the same. It follows Labour's worst general election performance since 1935, with Boris Johnson's Tories sweeping to power with a majority of 80. He told Sky News: “We will all go now. The new leader will come in place and appoint a shadow cabinet. I won’t be part of the shadow cabinet. “I’ve done my bit. We need to move on at that stage with that new leader. “I think we’ll be in a position where we’ll be learning lessons listening to people.” Shadow chancellor Mr McDonnell wrote on Twitter: "To avoid any confusion, in response to doorstep I have confirmed that when the new leader is elected I will leave the Shadow Cabinet. Like Jeremy and with his approval I will remain in position until then." … [Read more...] about John McDonnell quits shadow cabinet after Labour defeat and says “we’ll all go”

The Brexit party, Change UK and Liberal Democrats have held their final rallies before the European election, appealing to voters to back them to send a clear message on either leave or remain. The Brexit party’s leader, Nigel Farage, told at his last hustings event at a packed conference centre in Olympia, in west London on Tuesday that if they win the EU poll then it would “kill off any chance of a second referendum”. He also said he also wanted to get rid of the Electoral Commission, which is reviewing the Brexit party’s funding, along with the House of Lords, claiming they were full of “remainers”. Farage, who is personally facing an investigation by MEPs for failing to declare expenses funded by the Leave.EU founder, Arron Banks, told the rally: “We have got to get rid of the House of Lords, of Mr Blair and Mr Cameron’s cronies. Oh, and the Electoral Commission, all of whom are remainers, all of whom are part of Westminster … [Read more...] about Change UK, Brexit party and Lib Dems in last appeal before European elections