Kensington falls to Labour after disastrous night for the Conservatives
2 min read
Victoria Borwick has lost her seat after three recounts in a disastrous election for the Conservatives.
Emma Dent Coad, the Labour candidate, received 16,333 votes while Victoria Borwick, standing for the Tories, got only 20 fewer.
Home to the super-rich, the constituency should have been a safe bet for the Conservatives but instead became one of the sweetest victories for the Labour party.
The win solidifies Labour’s dominance over the capital, as 49 of London’s 73 seats turned red.
Citizens in the capital resoundingly rejected Theresa May’s plans for a hard Brexit and backed Jeremy Corbyn.
Enfield Southgate, scene of Michael Portillo’s defeat in 1997, went back to Labour again, with the Leave campaigner David Burrowes losing out to Bambos Charalambous by 4,355 votes.
In Battersea, a constituency chock-a-block with bankers who should be natural Conservatives, the Treasury minister Jane Ellison lost a 7,938 majority to Labour’s Marsha de Cordova, a disability campaigner.
Gavin Barwell, the housing minister, lost the key marginal of Croydon Central, with Labour’s Sarah Jones winning by 5,652 votes.
In southwest London the Liberal Democrats reclaimed Twickenham and Kingston & Surbiton, with Sir Vince Cable and Sir Ed Davey returning to Westminster.
The only good news for the Conservatives was Zac Goldsmith’s win in Richmond Park, the seat he lost after a by-election he triggered in 2016, and won back last night with only 45 votes.
Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, a critic of Mr Corbyn, called it an astonishing night in British politics and described the London result as brilliant.
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