Wednesday, 27 Nov 2024

Will Boris still be Prime Minister if he loses his seat?

Boris Johnson launched his general election campaign with a pledge to ‘Get Brexit Done’.

But the Prime Minister might have some difficulty achieving that if he fails to get re-elected as MP of Uxbridge and South Ruislip on December 12.

At the snap election two years ago, Mr Johnson won 50.8 percent of the vote, beating the Labour contender by 10 points.

This might sound strong but upon closer inspection of the results, the Tories suffered a 6.5 per cent swing to Labour, and Mr Johnson’s majority was cut in half from 10,695 in 2015 to 5,034 in 2017.

Labour now only needs a 5 per cent swing next month to unseat Mr Johnson, which hasn’t happened to a Tory leader since Arthur Balfour in 1906.

If Mr Johnson does lose his seat, he could technically continue as Prime Minister so long as the Conservative Party win a majority. But he would have to appoint himself a Lord.

In this unlikely event, he would face an enormous amount of pressure to resign and would probably be replaced by another Tory MP in a leadership election.

The candidate Labour has selected to take him on is 25-year-old Ali Milani, who couldn’t be more different to the Prime Minister.

Mr Milani is an Iranian immigrant and practising Muslim who moved to a council estate in Wembley with his mother and sister when he was five.

He’s a big name on campus at Brunel University in Uxbridge, where he was the student union president before becoming a vice-president of the National Union of Students.

Labour hopes he will rally the pro-Remain student vote to victory next month.

Mr Milani told the BBC: ‘There are very few times in very few elections where you can say a single seat can change the course of the country, can change the future path that the country goes on.

‘This is the smallest majority a PM has ever had, or in a hundred years at least, has had in his own constituency.’

Awais Khan, current vice-president of the Brunel student union, said many younger voters are looking for change.

He said: ‘They’re looking for something new, something fresh that’s why Ali has enticed them.

‘But a lot of the traditional, older folk will probably still vote for Boris, so it’s unclear.’

Who are Boris Johnson’s rival candidates?

Liberal Democrat – Elizabeth Evenden-Kenyon

Labour – Ali Milani

Brexit Party – Nikki Page

Green – Mark Keir

Source: Read Full Article

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