Jeremy Corbyn and Labour on course for party’s worst election result ever

Corbyn apocalypse! Labour plummets to its worst EVER general election result with the party set to win just 191 seats – lower than Michael Foot in 1983

  • Jeremy Corbyn on course to record worst Labour election results in modern era 
  • General election exit poll suggests Labour will end up with 191 seats – down 71
  • Such a result would be worse than party’s previous 1983 low watermark of 209
  • If exit poll proves true Mr Corbyn will face intolerable pressure to quit as leader
  • Exit poll suggests Tories could win 368 seats – enough for an 86 seat majority  

Jeremy Corbyn’s tenure as Labour leader looks to be over after the exit poll showed him on course for a catastrophic defeat at the general election. 

Labour is forecast to lose dozens of seats to the Conservatives, slumping to 191 seats – its lowest total in modern times. 

The expected result is an emphatic rejection of Mr Corbyn’s socialist vision, handing Boris Johnson a majority in the House of Commons. 

Defeat will be Mr Corbyn’s second in three years and will make it extremely difficult for him to survive as leader. 

Labour is now on course for a brutal leadership battle as moderates and the hard-Left tussle for control of the party. 

Jeremy Corbyn ‘s tenure as Labour leader looks to be over after the exit poll showed him on course to lose the general election 

Labour grandee Lord Falconer said last week that Mr Corbyn should resign and be replaced ‘as quickly as we reasonably can’ if he loses to Mr Johnson.  

A number of female MPs have been mentioned as possible successors, including Angela Rayner, Jess Phillips and Rebecca Long-Bailey. 

Labour’s foreign affairs spokeswoman Emily Thornberry and North West Durham candidate Laura Pidcock could also enter the leadership race.    

Elected leader in 2015 with little support from his own MPs, Mr Corbyn has faced repeated plots to remove him since then. 

He confounded those critics with an unexpectedly strong performance in the 2017 election, gaining seats and denying Theresa May a majority. 

But since then his party has been engulfed in an anti-Semitism crisis and Mr Corbyn has been widely criticised for his handling of it. 

During the campaign, he failed to apologise to Jewish people in a stormy interview with Andrew Neil.  

In addition, Mr Corbyn’s equivocal stance on Brexit has infuriated many Remainers who wanted him to support cancelling Brexit.   

Under pressure from party activists, Mr Corbyn finally agreed to back a second referendum. 

However, he drew fresh criticism for pledging to be ‘neutral’ during a second referendum campaign. 

Opening the door to cancelling Brexit may also have cost Labour votes in some of its heartlands where it is set to lose seats.