Election results 2019: Johnson hails 'historic' Conservative victory
Boris Johnson has said the forecast general election result would deliver a "powerful new mandate" to a "one-nation Conservative government", reports BBC.
Speaking after being re-elected as MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, he said it is an "historic election".
Former rebel Tory MP Sir Nicholas Soames said it could build a new Conservative majority "for a generation".
But Tory defector Heidi Allen said it meant a "hard-right" government.
The Conservatives have won a series of victories in Labour heartlands in the north of England and Wales in early results.
A BBC forecast puts the Conservatives on 363 seats.
Mr Johnson said he did not want to "tempt fate", but added: "It does look as though this one-nation Conservative government has been given a powerful new mandate, to get Brexit done, unite this country and take it forward."
He said he thought it has "turned out to be an 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".
That work would start "tomorrow" he said, before correcting himself and saying "today".
The Conservatives' first gain was in Blyth Valley in Northumberland, held by Labour since 1950.
It was one of several victories in places which backed Brexit in the 2016 referendum, which also included Sedgefield, the constituency of former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Conservative MP Mark Francois told the BBC the party can deliver for voters in these Leave-supporting areas, many of which have high levels of poverty.
"They put their trust in the prime minister, we must be worthy of that trust," he said.
"In 1989 Russia's Berlin wall came down, in 2019 Labour's red wall came down. The Labour Party presented a Marxist option and the British people resoundingly defeated that."
