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CNN Live Event/Special
Boris Johnson on Course for Comfortable Majority. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired December 13, 2019 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: With 28 million votes counted and 582 seats declared. A very warm good morning to you as we continue with CNN's special coverage of the U.K. general election. I'm Richard Quest.
[00:00:52]
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I'm Hala Gorani.
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And I'm Bianca Nobilo.
GORANI: All right. Well, Boris Johnson is back from his -- is back at his party's headquarters from the vote count as the Conservatives take seats from Labour across England and Wales. It was a very good night for the Conservatives and for the prime minister, Boris Johnson. He is on track to remain prime minister with that comfortable majority that was projected in the exit poll. Listen.
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BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I want to thank the people of this country for turning out to vote in a December election that we didn't want to call but which I think has turned out to be a historic election that gives us now, in this new government, the chance to respect the Democratic will of the British people; to change his country for the better; and to unleash the potential of the entire people of this country. And that is what we will now do.
And if we are lucky enough to be returned as the polls, as the exit polls seem to suggest, then that work will begin tomorrow. Thank you all very much. Or rather, I should say not tomorrow, today! Today! Thank you all. Thank you all very much. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Meantime, in inverse proportion to Boris Johnson's success and enthusiasm, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says that he will not take his party into the next general election, but he's staying on for now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEREMY CORBYN, LABOUR PARTY LEADER: I want to also make it clear that I will not lead the party in any future general election campaign. I will discuss with our party to ensure there is a process now of reflection on this result and on the policies that the party will take going forward. And I will lead the party during that period to ensure that discussion takes place and we move on into the future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GORANI: Elsewhere there was a defeat for the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Jo Swinson, who lost her seat to the Scottish National Party.
And it's been a good night for that party. Its leader, Nicola Sturgeon, says that Scotland has a, quote, "renewed, refreshed, strengthened mandate for a Scottish independence referendum." But she's likely to run up to a huge amount of resistance on that, because Boris Johnson, the leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party, now with a comfortable majority, unlikely to grant her that request.
NOBILO: All right. Max Foster is standing by at 10 Downing Street. What can you tell us about Boris Johnson's movements? Are we expecting him to walk through that front door?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, is -- the formal process sort of begin. It was interesting. He wasn't taking any questions after that speech in his constituency. So we're expecting to hear from him here.
We did get a strong indication, though, about how he's going to take things forward. He, of course, talked about Brexit. That is now going to happen. But then he talked about going onto his wider agenda. And it sounded pretty centrist, which is interesting, because this is a prime minister who's no longer beholden to these Euro- skeptics in Parliament, no longer beholden to the DUP, the Northern Irish Party. This is a prime minister who, it looks like, going to be fully empowered to push through his agenda, and it's looking more centrist than it was before, which is very interesting indeed.
We know that Brexit is now going to happen. We can't underestimate the importance of the vote tonight in terms of that and what it means for the wider world. We know that a Brexit referendum isn't going to happen. We know that the Corbyn political party that he created within Labour. That whole party is dead. The Labour Party has to be reinvented. And I do think we need to look at Scotland and the way this insurgent national party did incredibly well on the ticket about independence. Very, very difficult, as you were saying, to square with Boris Johnson's position.
QUEST: Max Foster. Thank you. And the hour has arrived when we can say --
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
[00:05:02]
QUEST: Boris Johnson, prime minister of the United Kingdom for five more years, now has an absolute majority. If you look at the numbers, bearing in mind the speaker, the deputy speaker and Sinn Fein. It does not take their seats. He has got 323 seats in Parliament. That gives him an absolute majority.
NOBILO: And yes, congratulations. A minute ago from the daughter of the president of the United States, Ivanka Trump: "Congratulations, Prime Minister Boris Johnson." Right on cue.
GORANI: He has succeeded where his predecessor Teresa May has failed. And for somebody who famously said that he once wanted to be king of the world and perhaps was best known as the man so desperate to be prime minister that everybody knew about it and talked about it ad nauseum, until he became prime minister. Then, when he couldn't pass his deal, some people were saying, will he be the shortest-lived prime minister in British history? Well no, his ambitions have been vindicated, and he'll be around for some more time.
QUEST: And depending on your definitions, the Conservatives now have 326 seats, which is a true absolute majority. Even if you have Sinn Fein, the speaker, and the Downing Street cat.
And Nic Robertson is at the Boris Johnson seat of Uxbridge, his constituency. So, Nic, you and I have talked many nights on broadcast. We can now pretty much say Brexit is going to happen at the end of January.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The prime minister's outlined it already. He has said that it will leave on the 31st of January. That they will have a Brexit budget in the middle of February. That in the coming year of 2020 will be the one where the new trade deal is negotiated with the European Union.
There is a sort of a trip wire on that in July next year, if you will, that if an extension isn't asked for beyond the end of next year, that's a year from now, then Britain will leave the European Union, having completed the divorce part of it at the end of January this year and completed the new phase of the relationship, or not, by the end of next year.
So yes, Boris Johnson has it. He's carried the day. This one has to say it's a remarkable and tremendous victory for him. There's no absolute doubt about that, a thorough vindication for him and all those who stood by him in the party.
What this means for the country, questions obviously, about the union in Scotland. Questions in Northern Ireland. There will be a large level of dissatisfaction with what the Brexit deal means for them. But it's going ahead. This is what Boris Johnson said: state opening of Parliament next week. He's talked about a vote on his deal before Christmas and then the -- getting it into law by the end of January. It's happening -- Richard.
QUEST: Thank you.
NOBILO: Nic Robertson, in Boris Johnson's constituency. Thank you.
Let us go now to Phil Black, who's in Jeremy Corbyn's constituency tonight, where the mood is vastly different. Phil, I've just heard that Dennis Skinner, a very famous member of
Parliament for the Labour Party, particularly well-known for his heckling in the chamber at the House of Commons, has lost to the Conservative Party. Another symbolic defeat for Labour.
Are calls growing for Jeremy Corbyn to step down with immediate effect?
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's a hugely symbolic defeat for Labour, Bianca. We spent time in Bolsover, Dennis Skinner's seat. To put that in some perspective, he's a titan of the Labour Party. He's represented that constituency for almost 50 years. He's in his late eighties. He would've been the longing serving M.P. if he'd been reelected.
A really strong old-school Labour character. The Beast of Bolsover, he is known as. And he's now been defeated by a Conservative candidate, which is truly extraordinary.
Here in Islington North, Jeremy Corbyn's constituency, well, we heard from Jeremy Corbyn was firstly the clear headline, that he's going but not yet. He's going to stick around, he says, while the party chooses a successor and enters a period of reflection, a process of reflection.
But he wasn't feeling particularly reflective about this disastrous result. He certainly wasn't being humble or contrite. What we heard was bitterness and excuses.
He blamed Brexit, essentially. He blamed the media's treatment of him and the party. He insisted that his policies are still popular. He did not acknowledge his leadership, or his leadership particularly on the Brexit issue. He did not acknowledge the role that his party's radical left-wing policy platform might have played or his own personal inability to sell it to the country.
Nor did he acknowledge his own unpopularity with voters of all persuasions and the possibility that there just might have influenced the outcome, as well.
So he's going to stick around while the party chooses a new successor. That could change some time. And it is likely, I think, that some of the leading contenders in that leadership, that coming leadership battle, will be people who are close to Corbyn politically and personally.
[06:10:11]
And so it is perhaps possible that, although Jeremy Corbyn is leaving the stage, the Corbyn project, which has been about reshaping Labour into a distinctly left-wing political party, well, that project may not necessarily be over, despite tonight's result.
QUEST: Thank you -- excuse me -- for that.
We have 603 seats gone. So there's, what, another 47 still to go. Anna Stewart is with us with the results. Show us the magnitude, if you can, of the Tory victory tonight that's given them an all -- an outright majority.
ANNA STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I can. Look, 330, the Conservative Party have already shot past that magic three two six number, and the gains just keep on coming.
I'm going to flip the map over to the other side. And then I can actually compare how it looked in 2017 going into this election to now. Now you see this lovely big red patch here. This was the Labour red wall going from the north of Wales through the Midlands up into northeast England. These were seats, many of them, held by the Labour Party for 100 years, sometimes even more. And the extraordinary thing is, if we go into 2019 you see how it is melted away into blue.
As predicted, the Conservatives have knocked down this Labour red wall and, actually, we're still getting some crucial results right now. We just had Newcastle underlined in the west Midlands. We flipped the screens over, I can show you how they voted. The Conservatives picking this one up, getting 52 percent of the vote.
Look at the Labour share of the vote. They have 36 percent. That is a fall of 12 percent from 2017. And of course, this is because this is an area that voted to leave the E.U. in 2016. Sixty-two percent is the estimate.
Another interesting one that we just had, Dudley North, one of the biggest Brexit areas, actually, of the U.K. And this has been a Labour seat since 1997. You can see how badly Labour have done.
I just wanted to highlight Dudley North as a particularly interesting seat, because actually, the M.P., the Labour M.P., Ian Austin, who resigned over Labour leadership, over intolerance. He was actually a Euroskeptic. He did vote for Brexit. He was one of only three Labour M.P.s who voted for Theresa May's deal, and also later on voted for Boris Johnson's new deal. He is out of a sea tonight. He is being punished by, I think, Labour starts on Brexit.
Steven, tell us more.
STEVEN UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It's very interesting, Dudley North. That is a perfect storm, if you like, that we've seen building against Labour tonight. There was frustration there about Jeremy Corbyn's lack of a clear Brexit plan in a constituency which really wanted very heavily to leave the E.U.
There was a dislike of Corbyn personally, and there's that demographic change we've been seeing in a lot of seats. There used to be a big steel works there in Dudley North, much as there did in Redcar, another Labour seat, longtime Labour seat in the northeast, which has gone to the Conservatives, too. That Labour heartland of heavy industry, union workers, working class voters is disappearing. And that is, I think, going to be seen as a key factor behind this Labour victory. Not just Brexit, not just Corbyn, but the country has changed underneath the Labour Party, and they didn't -- they haven't been able to catch up. STEWART: And we saw some hints, actually, with this. Ian Austin, as
I mentioned, was the Labour M.P. He resigned from the Labour Party. He was very frustrated with how his party was dealing with Brexit, and he actually came out and supported the Conservative candidate going into this election, even though he wasn't standing. And the Brexit candidate who was standing for the seat, he stood down to make way for the Conservatives, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. I mean, that is almost unheard of. I can't think of any other example where, you know, a prominent member of a party has turned so publicly. I mean, he said, you know, if it's your belief you have to stand up in politics and make a statement, the voters of the Dudley North made the statement. I mean, it's a great emblem for what has happened to the rest of the -- at least in England, the rest of those Labour seats tonight.
STEWART: We're still waiting for Bolsover, but if we get that result soon, we'll bring it to you. Because Bolsover could be a fascinating seat. Dennis Skinner has been the M.P. for many years. This is how it voted in 2017, so this is not the current result.
But Dennis Skinner, he's 87 years old, M.P. since 1970. But he could be losing his seat tonight.
QUEST: Yes. Yes, we believe actually, Anna that has just reported a short while ago. Dennis Skinner did lose his seat tonight. The Beast of Bolsover is gone.
But Anna, you were just talking about the constituencies. Sheffield Hallam, Anna, has reported Labour gained from an independent who took the -- who took the seat after it was lost by Nic Clegg, who then went off to Facebook after losing the seat in the 2017. Now Labour -- Labour has got it back from the Lib Dems.
[00:15:)7]
STEWART: I know. Another fantastic move. And let's look at this. Thirty-five percent, thirty -- very tight margin here, though. The Labour Party winning this but not by very much. And the Conservative Party, this was really a three-party race, which is actually quite rare in the U.K.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. We haven't seen that in many -- there was talk before this election with few three-way margins, but we haven't really seen that play out.
One of the reasons for that, of course, is the great weakness of the Liberal Democrats, that tactical voting that we thought we might see in many places, all these people had their apps working out how they get rid of the Tory candidate, that didn't play out as much as a lot of people were saying. So a really, really bad light for Liberal Democrats. You know, it seems a long, long way that we were talking a few elections ago about Clegg mania. It really, you know, you have to question, really, what is the spot on the spectrum now for the Liberal Democrats? What is their raison d'etre? STEWART: And just a reminder that Dunbartonshire East, this was the
leader of the Liberal Democrats, Jo Swinson's seat. She has lost it. How much do we think that the Liberal Democrats are still being punished for a coalition back in 2010 with the Conservatives?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think they still are, and Jo Swinson herself said that she believed that that was the case, and she actually apologized for some of the decisions on austerity that the Liberal Democrats signed up to in that coalition. You know, she only lost that seat by a few votes, 150 or so.
STEWART: A hundred and forty-nine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to say, perhaps, that if she wasn't the leader and spend more time in her constituency, she might have hung on. It was always a -- it was always a dangerous proposition, because she lost that seat in 2015 and won it back in the 2017 election. Now she's lost it again.
STEWART: One of those many moments that will are remembered tonight. All the shock exits, all the shock results.
Back to you guys.
NOBILO: All right. Anna Stewart, thanks very much.
We're getting some new video of Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn. He is seen here leaving Labour H.Q., a bad night obviously for Jeremy Corbyn. He said he would not lead his party into the next election.
He was asked questions by reporters. He dodged them. He will, though, stay in place for now. We don't know when he will step down, or when there will be a leadership contest to select his successor. That is going to be interesting to see whether he is going to try and hold on, for how long. But he said he won't lead his party into the next election. So there's that.
Stay with us. Our live election coverage continues after the break.
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GORANI: Welcome back. It is 5:20 a.m. here in the U.K. And it is a very good day for the Conservative Party this Friday the 13th. And not so good for the Labour Party. Right now, what is the latest? We have 337 seats, Richard and Bianca, for the Conservatives.
[00:20:15]
QUEST: Some interesting ones. Finchley and Golders Green, where there was -- the candidates from Labour had left.
NOBILO: She left particularly, specifically, over the issue of anti- Semitism. And she is a very prominent member of the Labour Party for doing that.
QUEST: But there, we have the Conservatives holding it. But a 14- percent swing from Conservative to Liberal Democrats.
NOBILO: And that's because, Luciana Berger, the M.P. who defected from Labour, was standing for the Liberal Democrats.
QUEST: But not enough to overturn Finchley.
NOBILO: No. Which is interesting, because often people have an attachment to the local M.P. And she was somebody who was very well- known. So it is another side of Conservative victory sweeping.
GORANI: So if the Labour Party wins fewer than 211 seats, that would be their worst performance since 1935. And there has to be some soul searching now at some point.
QUEST: Some?
GORANI: We didn't hear, though, from the leader, Jeremy Corbyn. He blamed Brexit. He attacked the media.
NOBILO: You know, at most, he said it was a time for reflection, but he certainly took no blame --
GORANI: Right.
NOBILO: -- himself. And really admitted to any mistakes other than Brexit taking a lot of the campaign oxygen.
QUEST: There are about 35, 36 seats to go. Labour is on 200. Julian is outside Parliament this evening. Or this morning, I shall say.
JULIA CHATTERLEY: Thanks so much, Richard.
I'm joined by John Peet, a political editor at "The Economist."
Great to have you with us, John. We've all talked about the front page of "The Economist," Britain's nightmare before Christmas. Is this a nightmare?
JOHN PEET, POLITICAL EDITOR, "THE ECONOMIST": Well, I think it's -- you know, we have a clear Conservative majority, which I guess will reassure some people. We won't have a hung Parliament and so on. Boris Johnson will be able to do what he wants.
But I don't think that solves the problems of Brexit, what to do about the relationship with the European Union. And it still leaves British politics pretty much up, you know, upended. We don't know where it's going.
CHATTERLEY: I mean, there's challenges here with -- in our effort and enthusiasm to get Brexit done, as the British people here have voted for and the Conservatives and Boris Johnson. We're forgetting the real challenges come beyond January 31st.
The Conservative Party, arguably, here has become the party of the working class. What does that mean for the Conservatives for the next six months, 12 months, let's say? Assuming that some kind of trade deal can be agreed with the E.U. and other nations?
PEET: Well, I mean, I think there are several parts to that question, which are going to be very challenging for next year.
I mean, the first part, of course, is can we do a trade deal with the European Union by the end of next year? Very unlikely. The timetable is very tight. You know, there is a risk of leaving the E.U. with no trade deal at the end of next year.
But the interesting part of this, really, is how the Conservatives have evolved now. If they are now becoming the sort of party of the working-class, the manufacturing north, that is the part of the country that could suffer most from leaving the E.U. with no deal, because, you know, you'd have tariffs, barriers, the car industry and so on. You'd have, you know, the prospect of the Nissan factory in Sunderland. Would it continue? And so on.
And I think that's going to be very difficult for the Tories. They have a smashing victory. They've really destroyed the Corbyn project. But I think Brexit could still come back to haunt them, unless they can get a satisfactory trade deal with the E.U., which is going to be very difficult.
CHATTERLEY: Did the Conservatives crash the Corbyn project here? Or did Corbyn crash the Corbyn project here? With the extremism that was brought in with the policies that he was introducing.
I mean, you could look at some of the policies. The NHS, money for the NHS. Lower tax rates. Higher minimum wage. And just picking some of these perhaps would've worked. It was going off the deep and with socialist policies, nationalization, huge spending that -- that threw them off. Can they rein that in here going forward?
PEET: Well, you know, the future of the Labour Party is going to be a very big issue, you know, pretty quickly.
I mean, I heard a lot of people from the Labour Party say, look, we have policies that are popular. people like our policies. I was always a bit skeptical about that. Of course they like spending money on the NHS.
But I don't think the far left approach of Corbyn and his entourage was popular. They were misled by what they did in 2017, when they managed to do better than expected against Theresa May into thinking they were the future.
CHATTERLEY: They were going in the right direction.
PEET: And they are not, you know. And I think, actually, this election was partly about let's get Brexit done, support Boris Johnson. But a big part of it was, we don't want that far-left Corbyn, very far socialist agenda.
[00:25:09]
CHATTERLEY: Corbyn was struggling to admit that tonight. And you would expect that in a night of huge blows and huge losses. But he's not indicated when he's going to leave.
How quickly do you think Jeremy Corbyn is ejected here or decides to move on? And who ultimately replaces him? Because to go back to your point about what Brexit means for the U.K. economy, for the U.K. public, particularly the voters that have trusted the Conservatives here to get Brexit done and to make it work for them, that shift could happen very quickly. That shift in sentiment, if Labour can capture it.
PEET: Well, I think -- and I think it should, you know. And I think if I was advising the Labour Party, I would, you know, tell Jeremy Corbyn, you've got to go now.
CHATTERLEY: Push off. Yes.
PEET: And I think they've to adopt a different agenda. And I think they should a adopt, you know, as their leader, they should go for somebody like Keir Starmer, who understands Brexit and has a feel for the whole relationship with the European Union.
My worry is that I think they are committed, very committed in the heart of the party to this really quite socialist agenda. And they will continue to say, it was because of Brexit we lost this election, not because of our agenda.
And I think they're wrong about that. Their agenda is that -- you know, they need to change their whole approach, in order to provide an effective opposition to a Conservative government that's bent on a policy that I think could be quite damaging to the company.
CHATTERLEY: A Brexit versus Corbyn election. Richard, I believe you have a question for John here.
QUEST: I do, I do. The country is now firmly moving in a direction. I mean, is it too strong to say it's gone to the right? Those people who just wanted Brexit done. But how do you define where Britain has moved tonight?
PEET: You know, I mean, it's a very interesting general question. And it often rises in relation to the United States, as well. I mean, what do right and left mean now?
I think we've moved culturally to the right, but not economically. You know, I think in many ways, the people who now support the Conservatives, and Boris Johnson is going to find this difficult for him, they want more things from him like less immigration. They want protection. They're not interested in free trade. They're not terribly pro-globalization.
So in many ways, we have this rather odd arrangement where, economically, we've moved a little bit to the left, you know. More public spending and more help for poorer people. But culturally, to the right. And how the Conservatives ride that is not going to be easy. Nor is it very easy for Labour.
CHATTERLEY: They've ridden it in this election, quite frankly.
PEET: They have done well this time.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. What does the future hold? Richard.
QUEST: Watching the -- your report there and listening carefully, I am minded to think that at this time -- you know, normally elections are April, May, June. It would be daylight now.
And I think back to the Tony Blair. Things can only get better, you know, concert that was held first thing in the morning on the South Bank at dawn.
Middle of December. There will be no side of light for another three hours. We'll be back in a moment.
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GORANI: A very significant election result. It is official now: Britain's Conservative Party has achieved an absolute majority in the general election. Now, that means Boris Johnson remains as prime minister, paving the way for him to be at No. 10 for the next five years and get his way when it comes to Brexit.
And it has been a hugely symbolic defeat for Labour. Its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said he will not take his party into the next general election but that he is staying in place for now.
Now, as far as Scotland, it's been a good night for the SNP. Leader Nichola Sturgeon says Scotland has, quote, "a strengthened mandate" for an independence referendum.
[00:30:10]
Let's go back to CNN's Julia Chatterley. She is outside Parliament. And Julia, this -- I mean, whether it's because people were tired of the gridlock, or if it's because they decided that Brexit was going to happen, so let's get it done. Whatever the reason, the electorate in this country has chosen to support the idea of the Brexit deal, in the way that the Conservative Party of Boris Johnson has -- has proposed it.
CHATTERLEY: All of the above, I think, Hala. A strong, strong mandate here given to Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party to get the U.K. out of the E.U. And then the real challenges begin.
But let's talk about what the future of politics, I think, looks like in this country going forward.
Joining us now, the former director of communications for Tony Blair, Alastair Campbell.
Great to have you with us. You kind of predicted this, the destination of the Labour Party seems in this election.
ALASTAIR CAMPBELL, FORMER DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR TONY BLAIR. Yes. I just think it's been coming for a while. I think the 2017 election was -- gave a sort of camouflage to the reality of what people were thinking.
I think the country just decided a while ago that they're not having Jeremy Corbyn and they're not having his policies. And, you know, yes Brexit was a problem for Labour, but up in the north of England, you know, where I've spent a lot of time in election, it was about Corbyn. And it was about people saying, I don't get them on the economy. I don't really get them on security and defense and that kind of stuff.
And I think the anti-Semitism issue bubbled along through the Parliament, and it kind of -- it imploded during the election campaign itself.
And the other thing is they didn't want to talk about Brexit, because Boris Johnson did, but that meant that Boris Johnson was able to get with this slogan, "Get Brexit done, get Brexit done." It's all he said all the campaign. And now, as you say, the hard bit will start, but meanwhile, he's got a mandate, and he's got a big majority and, you know, the Labour Party is on its back.
CHATTERLEY: I mean, you've said that they should start from the ground up here. Will they? Because Jeremy Corbyn was not talking about his economic policies, the mistakes that were made there. He reiterated that this was about Brexit.
What now? Does he need to leave? Will he leave? And where does the party go from here?
CAMPBELL: I think it's going to be very difficult, because I was on the BBC earlier, and Jon Lansman, who set up momentum, which is the kind of party within the party that was giving all the support to Jon -- to Jeremy Corbyn, and it's -- their line seems to be it's all about Brexit. And if only it hadn't been for Brexit, then the electorate really love our policies, and they would've elected us, this kind of thing. And it's nonsense.
And you can't say if it wasn't for Brexit, because Brexit is the defining issue and was the defining issue of the election. And I accept it was a problem for Labour. Of course it was, because you know, the country voted for it and a very divided party, a very divided public.
CHATTERLEY: And it was expected to lose on that part, as well --
CAMPBELL: Yes, but --
CHATTERLEY: -- given the proportion of people who voted to leave.
CAMPBELL: But look what's happened -- look what's happened in Scotland. I know Scotland is different in many ways, but there, we had sort of clear, resolute, determined leadership on it that people have come behind it.
What happened with Labour, I think, is the -- the public sense the Labour sort of is just a kind of inconvenience, rather than actually defining issues. You have Johnson just wanted to talk about Brexit. The Labour Party said, let's talk about anything apart from Brexit. Talk about health, education, massively important. And with better policies on it than the Conservatives have. But unless you demolish that get-Brexit-done side of Johnson's argument, you let him away with it.
CHATTERLEY: Tough to do that, though.
CAMPBELL: I agree.
CHATTERLEY: After more than three years, people are exhausted with the conversation.
You've openly called Boris Johnson dangerous. What does Boris Johnson danger, being dangerous mean for the U.K. moving forward? Or do you think, actually, this could turn out really well for the Conservatives, and he could stick around for a long while, particularly given the lack of opposition?
CAMPBELL: Listen, he's won. He's got quite a big majority. And the Labour Party is going to have to, you know, rebuild. And the SNP are on their backs, as well.
So apart from the -- he's got a, you know, big problem with Scotland, because the Scots, the SNP now will say, with some justification, they have a mandate to have another referendum.
But he's in a very -- he's in a strong position. I think his problems will amount in two places. One is Brexit. It's going to be very hard now, once the majority moves through.
But secondly, he made a lot of pretty glib promises about, you know, building new hospitals and transforming schools, and you know, let's just see. Because I don't think, necessarily, he's either going to have the economic strength or the political will to do it.
And having all these northern M.P.s now puts him under a lot of pressure actually to deliver on that sort of front.
And I think it's dangerous, because I actually think he's -- in the same way I think Donald Trump is dangerous in America, that they -- they kind of -- they don't really have a moral compass. And I don't think Johnson has a very firm set of beliefs about what he wants to do for the country. And I find that, you know, alarming.
[00:35:13]
I also think he's a liar, I'm afraid. I think he's somebody who have a very elastic relationship with the truth. And, you know, I think our policy needs right now needs people who will stand up and call things as they are.
CHATTERLEY: Do you think he'll last the full term?
CAMPBELL: Yes, I suspect he will with that majority, but a lot depends on what happens with Brexit. But I'll tell you something quite interesting. This is a message for
the Labour Party. If he lasts a full term, it will then be a fact that, in the last half century, only one person has won an election for Labour, and that's Tony Blair. Now, that is a message for the Labour Party.
CHATTERLEY: And interesting where you need to be on the political spectrum you need to be. Alastair Campbell, great to chat with you.
CAMPBELL: Thank you.
CHATTERLEY: Thank you so much for that.
Let's head out to Anna Stewart. She's standing by in the CNN election results enter. Anna, what have you got for us now?
STEWART: Julia, I want to take you to Scotland. There are still three seats remaining, but you can see how well the SNP have done. And of course, this was going to be the big story of the night, ever since we got the exit poll which suggested that 55 seats could go to the SNP.
Let me switch these screens, and I'll show you how Scotland has fared. Now clear, the SNP will not be getting 55 seats. There are only three left remaining, so the maximum they can get is 49.
But they have gained seats from the Liberal Democrats, from the Conservative Party, and from Labour. And we're still getting some of these seats in. We've just had a result in for Gordon. This used to be Alex Salmond's seat, former SNP leader. And he famously lost it to the Conservative Party.
It's now again for the SNP. And it's been quite tight. This was a tight margin, just 1 percent. But clearly, a victory here for the SNP.
The Labour Party did pick up some of the vote here, which I think is fairly interesting.
I want to hand it over to Steven, because we were talking about Scotland in the break. How has it performed? Not as well as we thought right at the beginning with the exit poll, but still, I mean, it's been an incredible night for the SNP. It doesn't necessarily mean, of course, that they will get what they want, which is a second independence vote.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. Boris Johnson has made pretty clear that he doesn't want to give them that vote, and the size of his majority may give him some insulation about leading, to at least until the next Scottish Parliamentary elections in a couple of years.
One ray of light, actually, for the Liberal Democrats in Scotland, who lost their leader, Jo Swinson, of course, in another Scottish seat. They did pick up northeast Fife.
STEWART: Yes, let's look at Fife North East. This was actually the tightest margin of all seats in 2017. In 2017, there were just two votes in it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right. The SNP M.P., Stephen Gethins, has lost his seat. This is an interesting seat, because it's around St. Andrew's, which has a lot of students. Some people up from down south England, some old Scottish fishing villages. So it's a real mix. And it was one of those seats where it could have gone anyway.
And it's very interesting. The Liberal Democrats have managed to pick this one up. I mean, look, their vote is up 10 percent. This is a remains seat. It doesn't seem that the voters in Fife North East thought that the best way to register their displeasure at the leaving the Scotland -- European Union was to vote for the SNP. But that really is an exception. Everywhere else in Scotland, it seemed to be the case.
STEWART: And I would say, with Fife North East, this is an area that, when it came to that first Scottish independence vote, they voted to remain in the U.K. However, actually, a lot of the seats that we have seen go to the SNP tonight are also places that didn't want independence in 2014.
And we can't work out whether that has shifted, or whether this was all about Brexit, and the SNP just had a strong, strong message when it came to Brexit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it's fascinating. You have, in Scotland, big disparities in small geographic areas, because of course, Fife North East is just across the Tay from Dundee, which is obviously a very strong SNP area. So just the mix.
I think there's a lot we have to learn about what, exactly, this vote in Scotland means. There's a lot -- it's not quite as simple as Scotland all going for the SNP and saying, we want independence. There's a lot of mixed messaging there.
I think, as well, the fact that Labour has basically disappeared in Scotland, that makes it very difficult. If you are a unionist, you basically have the choice of voting for the Conservatives or --
STEWART: And before we go to break I just want to say that, at least, with this result, the SNP can't get 50 seats. So Ruth Davidson, the former Conservative Scottish leader doesn't have to skinny dip in Loch Ness.
But more about that after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:42:47]
GORANI: Welcome back. What's the reaction in Brussels? We did hear from the president of the council, Charles Michel, a few hours ago. Melissa Bell is in Brussels with more on, not yet? All right.
QUEST: So how about we -- I'm just going to remind you where we stand. You'll forgive me if I may. NOBILO: Richard, you're forgiven.
QUEST: Three hundred and fifty-two seats for the Conservatives. I mean, this is extraordinary. Three hundred -- there's about -- there are 17 left to declare tonight. The Conservatives are on 352. Labour is on 202.
The seats that are remaining are the ones in the very far north of Scotland, and down towards the west coast, Devon Cornwall. They are the last ones to declare.
NOBILO: And if we'll remind ourselves, if you'll forgive me --
QUEST: Of course.
NOBILO: -- why Boris Johnson, basically, managed to take the leadership of the Conservative Party in the first place. It's because the party was despondent and not motivated, and worried about their fortunes under Theresa May.
They -- they elected him to lead, because they thought he was a proven campaign performer, and a proven election winner. That was what I consistently heard as a refrain among backbenchers in Westminster, and he has delivered.
GORANI: Yes. So what does this mean for Britain's relationship with the E.U.? Because now it's all but certain that Brexit will happen, probably on January 31. That is going to be the beginning, though, of the road, because this is the withdrawal agreement. It's not the trade agreement. This is not the future relationship of the U.K. with its largest trading partner as an entity, which is, of course, the European Union.
Melissa Bell is in Brussels with more.
I guess maybe there is some sense of relief, Melissa, that at least, there is more clarity now? So you don't have that sort of cloud hanging over the future withdrawal agreement, when or if it will happen?
MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Hala. In fact, that's been spoken to directly, and the use of the word "clarity" was used with a sense of relief by France's European affairs minister, who said, look, what mattered was not the means of the divorce but what happens afterwards. We can now crack on with that.
[00:45:03]
So yes, a definite sense of relief. This was almost the best possible outcome from Brussels' point of view, since anything else would have meant more uncertainty, more difficulties.
And as you say, beyond that actual 31st of January deadline, for those negotiations over the future trade deal. The fact that there is a clear majority, the fact that Boris Johnson is the most powerful, in Parliamentary terms, prime minister since that '97 landslide for Tony Blair, means that he is going to -- the expectation is that he should be able to push his deal through Parliament.
And that, beyond that. And I think this is what the leaders gathering here in Brussels this morning at the European Council are going to be talking about. Beyond that, all that very difficult process and what's likely to be a pretty rocky road as the United Kingdom and the E.U. try and work out what kind of relationship they are going to have post-Brexit, and in the longer term.
In a sense, now Boris Johnson is going to be able to carry out his negotiations in a much clearer way, in a much more defined way. And for Europe, after all these years of negotiations, after all these ups and downs, and this torturous route that we've been on for the last two years, that is definitely good news.
GORANI: All right. Melissa Bell, thanks very much, with reaction from the E.U. in Brussels.
We're going to take a quick break. We'll have a lot more after this. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:50:07]
QUEST: With the Tories having an absolute majority now, a sizable one to boot, it is an historic day in the U.K. An absolute majority for Boris Johnson's Conservatives. And the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, saying he won't lead the Labour Party into another general election.
The SNPs in Scotland had a very strong showing. The Liberal Democrat Party, dreadful performance, and the leader, Jo Swinson, losing her seat.
Here's a look at the most memorable moments of election 2019.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boris, Boris!
JOHNSON: I want to thank the people of this country for turning out to vote in a December election that we didn't want to call, but which I think has turned out to be a historic election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think you'll resign?
CORBYN: Thank you very much.
I will not lead the party in any future general election campaign. I will discuss with our party to ensure there is a process now of reflection on this result, and on the policies that the party will take going forward.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said you would make an official request for independent referendum two before Christmas. It's just a week and a bit away. Are you going to do that?
NICOLA STURGEON, HEAD, SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY: Yes. That's still my plan. But I will wait and see all the results tonight.
JO SWINSON, LEADER, LIBERAL DEMOCRAT PARTY: Some will be celebrating the wave of nationalism that is sweeping on both sides of the border, and I do congratulate all of those who are newly elected.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: The brutality of politics.
GORANI: Yes, absolutely. And it was, as we mentioned, a terrible night for Labour. Worst, potentially, when all is said and done, performance since 1935.
QUEST: The swing from Labour to Conservative is 4.6 percent. In some cases, there was 8, 9, 10 percentage point swings, but the national swing, 4.6 percent. And that gives you that result.
NOBILO: We're talking about the brutality of politics, and I'm minded to think about the architect of one-nation conservatism. This is what Boris Johnson always talks about. And that was one of his predecessors, Conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. And he said, when he got the top job: I've climbed the greasy pole. And that's the feeling I really got tonight. Boris Johnson managed to climb it. Nicola Sturgeon managed to climb it. Jeremy Corbyn, and the Labour Party, and the Liberal Democrats absolutely nosedived and tumbled down that greasy pole. It's been a terrible night for them.
GORANI: When -- when Boris Johnson lost, I think, his first seven or eight House of Commons votes --
QUEST: Yes, yes.
GORANI: -- I mean, we were -- we were -- some people are writing his political obituary, saying he would be one of the shortest-serving prime ministers in U.K. history.
QUEST: That was --
GORANI: And he managed this. The question is why? Why did he manage this? Why did Labour collapse? The Lib Dems that were looking for a much better showing, this Remain alliance, did not succeed.
QUEST: The -- it's obvious Corbyn plays a large part. We've been facing Keir Starmer, and I thought it had been a completely different matter.
But I think -- you know, I think that people wanted leadership. They didn't really mind which way the bus was being driven, so long as somebody was driving it. And after three years of dither and gather, they went with that.
Now, can we make -- can we make analogies of Trump? Can we make analogies of those sort of -- I don't think we can just yet, but I think you can say he gave from the moment he stood at Number 10, a --
GORANI: Why can't you make some analogies with Trump? You have a celebrity figure here, somebody who kind of says and acts in ways that are unconventional, where he kind of shoots from the hip in the same way Trump is perceived as doing. So there are similarities in their -- in their -- in the brand, in the political brand. Even if, ideologically, they're not on the same page.
NOBILO: It's interesting, because Corbyn, too, at points, has called a populist, because of the way in which he rallies his base. A lot of this is not just the relative strength of Boris Johnson, but it is Corbyn's failure of leadership. He did not take a stance on the most critical issue of the day.
People were confused by his Brexit policy, even though it was fairly simple but uninspiring, no matter which side of the debate you were on.
GORANI: And were for a long time.
NOBILO: His policies were radical, and then personally, he had issues with trust because people were concerned with his national security and anti-Semitism.
QUEST: I've done, I think, nine, not as many as Robin Oakley (ph), of course, but I don't think nine U.K. elections. This has been the one where, I think, it's been the most better, in some ways, except some of the Thatchers were fairly bitter.
But this one has the greatest implication for the immediate future of the United Kingdom, a reminder of where we stand as we come towards the end tonight.
[00:55:09]
The Conservatives have 356. Labour has 202. There is only 12 seats left to call.
NOBILO: It's been an incredible night for a prime minister that, as Hala said, was beleaguered in the last few months. He ultimately called this election as a last resort, because he couldn't get his Brexit deal through. Many doubted whether or not he would be able to pull this off, because he was one of those figures where everyone had all this -- all this hope for him. And he inspired that in his supporters about what he would mean as prime minister.
And then ultimately, it seems as if he may not actually be delivering on that. But he's proven his doubters wrong. The doubters, or doomsters, as he would say, wrong this evening.
GORANI: We've got to wrap this eight hours and 15 minutes of coverage up. But this is a hugely significant result, obviously. It will determine how Britain -- where it positions itself in the world. And certainly, it was a pleasure bringing you these results.
QUEST: That is our coverage for tonight. Boris Johnson has won the British general election, and he's done so in style, receiving an overall majority. What it means, of course, is Brexit takes place.
Good night from us in London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
