Christmas comes early for Tories in historic win

THE Conservatives became on Friday the first party to win an increased number of seats in a fourth straight term of office since the 19th century, buoying financial markets. Yet, while the result is a personal triumph for Boris Johnson, he is now under intense pressure to deliver on his election promises, including withdrawal from the European Union (EU) - which is now likely in early 2020.

The election result is not a monumental surprise inasmuch as the Conservatives were long forecast to emerge as the largest single group in the House of Commons. Yet, in an era of high political volatility and tactical voting, the result was never certain. This was especially so with polls tightening since the campaign began when some forecasters had predicted an even larger majority than what materialised on Friday.

As the British Election Survey (BES) - which is perhaps the most authoritative survey of UK voting behaviour - highlighted in October, traditional partisan voting patterns are eroding faster with the UK's 2015 and 2017 General Elections seeing more people change their voting intentions than ever before in the post-war era. Remarkably, nearly half the country (49 per cent) voted for different parties across the three elections from 2010-17 according to BES.