Election results - live: Corbyn under mounting pressure to quit as Boris Johnson tours north to celebrate victory
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Boris Johnson has told traditional Labour voters who helped him win an 80-seat majority at the general election he would “repay your trust” during a visit to Tony Blair’s old constituency of Sedgefield.
It comes as Jeremy Corbyn faces fresh calls to stand down as Labour leader immediately, with David Blunkett condemning his “ultra-left wing sect of losers”. John McDonnell said he will not be part of the future shadow cabinet, stating: “I’ve done my bit … we’ll all go now.”
There were several arrests as hundreds of protesters came out onto the streets of the capital in the wake of Mr Johnson’s election victory, chanting “not my prime minister” and “defy Tory rule”.
Hard work ahead for Boris Johnson on the NHS
Our health correspondent Shaun Lintern has taken a look at the PM’s pledges on the health service – and why he’ll need to deliver if he is to stand a chance in 2024.
Vince Cable: cowardice has been rewarded
Former Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable has said “political cowardice, opportunism and conformity have been rewarded” at this general election, “while bravery was dismissed”.
In his latest piece for The Independent he argues this will have long-term implications for our “already discredited politics”.
Sturgeon will formally request referendum powers
Nicola Sturgeon has welcomed the SNP’s new raft of MPs in Dundee following their “watershed” election performance – and hours after discussing a second independence referendum with the prime minister.
Scotland first minister confirmed she will formally request the powers for Holyrood to hold another ballot on separation from the UK, after Friday’s results saw the party increase its tally of MPs to 48.
Sturgeon was joined by her new Westminster contingent at the V&A in Dundee – mirroring previous occasions in front of the Forth Rail Bridge and Queensferry Crossing in 2015 and 2017 respectively.
Ahead of the gathering, the party leader spoke to Johnson during what was presumably an awkard phone call in which he reiterated his opposition to indyref2, despite her saying it is now a “democratic right”.
Nicola Sturgeon with 48 SNP MPs (AFP)
Emily Thornberry call for 'period of mourning' in Labour
The shadow foreign secretary refused to rule out standing to succeed Jeremy Corbyn but called for everyone to stop and think after the party's disastrous election showing.
Ms Thornberry told Sky News: “Frankly there’s going to be a lot of work to do over the next five weeks. We’ve got this terrible Tory government coming. I fear my surgery is going to be very full of people who’ve had their benefits cut.”
Asked if she would stand to be Labour leader, she said: “Let’s have a period of mourning. We need to have a chance to stop and think. I have nothing else to say.”
Boris Johnson evokes Blair as he vows Tories will be 'servants' of people
Boris Johnson has evoked the spirit of Tony Blair on a victory lap of the north of England as he vowed to "repay the trust" of Labour voters who helped him into Downing Street.
In the wake of his historic win, the prime minister made a symbolic trip to address activists in Sedgefield, Mr Blair's former seat in County Durham, which fell to the Conservatives on Friday morning.
Mr Johnson even quoted the ex-Labour prime minister's 1997 conference speech, where Mr Blair famously said his party were the "servants" and the people were "the masters".
Labour grandee warns against move towards ‘wishy-washy centrism’
Lord Hain, the former Welsh secretary, said the Corbyn project needed to do some "very searching self-examination" in the wake of the disastrous election result.
He told BBC Radio Wales: “I do not think the solution is to go back to just a kind of centrism that doesn't offer a clear alternative to the Tory project, which is a pretty right-wing project, is going to take us down a hard Brexit road, which is in my view going to be disastrous for Wales in particular.”
The former Neath MP said Labour had to be “honesty in every respect” in examining what led to it being punished so severely at the polls.
“That neither going back to a wishy-washy centrism is what we want but also accepting that this kind of policy of an intolerance at the top towards other electors, to voters who are not necessarily of your tribe or internally in the party, who are not necessarily in your clique, that's got to stop and there's got to be a really honest discussion.
“And then choose a successor who I think will probably be a woman, because there are very high calibre women standing in line.”
Who will be in Boris Johnson’s future cabinet?
A newly-emboldened PM must pick his top team – and his choices will send a message about the kind of government he will run.
Read our analysis here:
‘Why Boris Johnson’s victory is so scary’
Our US comment editor Holly Baxter has written a much-shared piece on why the PM’s victory is a frightening sign of things to come.
She states: “I fear that, in a toxic alliance with Donald Trump, he will do things which can’t be undone. And if this election result in the UK points to a surge for Trump in 2020, you can bet Britain will feel the consequences.”
Read more here:
‘The test is … could you win a general election?’
Political strategist John McTernan, former director of political operations under Tony Blair, has said Labour members must pick a leader who can win a general election.
He told the BBC: “The membership have to ask themselves: Do they see the world in left, right - and therefore, ‘We’ve got to choose a left leader, even though we’ve gone to the left for the last three elections and we’ve lost every time’.
“Or do we see the world in which we need a Labour government and therefore the test … could you win a general election?”
He suggested Jess Phillips might be a good leader. “It needs to be a new voice, a new face with new ideas because we will need a lot of ideas in post-Brexit Britain.”
How well did the polls do in predicting the result?
According to the BBC poll tracker, which brings together a range of top polls to give an overall predicted outcome, the verdict on this year’s pollsters is highly positive.
Taken together, the polls had just a one per cent margin of error and only slightly overestimated support for The Brexit Party, correctly foreseeing Tory strength in areas that voted for Leave in 2016.
The broadcaster singles out Opinium and Ipsos Mori for particular praise when it came to accurately forecasting the final result.
“Although there are doubtless lessons to be learnt, this election has not been the big embarrassment for the polling industry that both the last two polls proved to be,” said polling guru Sir John Curtice.
Joe Sommerlad has taken a more detailed look:
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