Big majority returns elated mayor to parliament

Boris Johnson, Mayor of London (left), and Eccentric Party of Great Britain leader Lord Toby Jug await the final vote count. Photo / AP

Boris Johnson has succeeded in his bid for a Commons comeback after winning the seat for Uxbridge and South Ruislip in west London.

For the next year he will be combining his duties in the Commons with his high-profile role as Mayor of London, having previously vowed to continue with the job until his term ends next year.

But Johnson's joy at returning to Westminster will have been dampened by the success of David Cameron.

With the Tories last night a whisker away from an absolute majority it will put the brakes on Johnson's attempt to manoeuvre into position to succeed him as leader.

He is seen as one of the main frontrunners to replace Cameron when the Prime Minister steps down in 2020.

The senior Tory politician is no stranger to Parliament as he was MP for Henley for seven years until he left in 2008 to take up the reins at the capital's City Hall.

Following his victory with a 10,000 majority, he said: "It's been a long and exciting evening and obviously I'm very excited by some of the results that are coming through.

"Overall I think it's been an amazing night for the Conservatives."

He told the BBC: "Sad about others, but overall it's been an amazing night for the Conservatives when you consider where we were and what the polls were saying only a few hours ago.

"It's a remarkable turnaround."

He said the "common sense of the British people" meant they "have decided to go forwards, with a sensible long-term economic plan for this country".

With the Conservatives on course to secure the most seats in Parliament, Johnson said: "The people of Britain, after a long and exhausting campaign, have finally spoken. I don't think we need any fancy constitutional expert to tell us what they were trying to say. I think they have decisively rejected any attempt to take this country back to the 1970s, decisively rejected old-fashioned and outdated politics of division, and it is clear to me the people of this country want us to go forward with sensible, moderate policies that this Conservative Party has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 last five years and that have led to a sustained economic recovery.

"I think the people of this country want to go forward with that long-term economic plan for the benefit of everybody in this constituency and across the entire country."

Describing himself as a "one-man melting pot" of English, French, Turkish, Muslim, Jewish and German ancestry, Eton-educated Johnson worked as a journalist for the Times and the Daily Telegraph after leaving Oxford University.

- Daily Mail