Labour dominated the general election in London, winning 59 out of 75 constituencies, yet their former leader Jeremy Corbyn claimed victory in Islington North.
Corbyn polled 24,120 votes in holding his seat since 1983, beating Labour’s Praful Nargund who garnered 16,873 votes.
Corbyn called the result: “A resonating message from the people of Islington North.
“I have dedicated my life, my learning and my abilities to the people of Islington North – this victory is a victory for them.”
Whilst Islington North slipped through Labour’s hands, the party picked up nine seats from the Conservatives in London including Cities of London and Westminster, all three constituencies in Barnet, and Boris Johnson’s former constituency Uxbridge and Ruislip South.
The Conservatives fell from 21 seats in 2019 in the capital to just nine in 2024, en route to their worst nationwide defeat in 190 years.
They lost nine seats to Labour, as well as three to the Lib Dems, who doubled their seat tally in the capital alongside a surge in seats nationally.
Among the Conservatives they defeated were Minister for London Greg Hands in Chelsea and Fulham and Thresea Villiers in Chipping Barnet.
Hands did not give a concession speech but his victorious opponent Ben Coleman who ousted him by just 152 votes said: “The whole country needs change, we need to get the NHS back on its feet, our schools need more teachers, we need to get police back on the street.
“In Chelsea and Fulham we got Wes Streeting to come down here just a few weeks ago and guarantee rebuilding and the modernisation of Charing Cross Hospital and I’m looking forward to making that happen.”
It wasn’t all rosy for Labour as incoming Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer saw his majority in Holborn and St Pancras reduced to just over 11,500 votes against former ANC Parliamentarian Andrew Feinstein.
Starmer called it a huge privilege to be re-elected in his constituency, saying it was where his wife and his children had grown up in and it was their love that had kept him grounded.
He said to his constituents: “I’ll serve every person in this constituency.
“I will speak out for you, have your back, fight your corner every single day.”
Moreover, Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting survived a scare, holding off independent candidate Leanne Mohamad who ran on a platform challenging the party’s position on the Israel/Gaza conflict.
Nevertheless, the 59 capital victories are two more than the 1997 Labour Landslide of Tony Blair which remains Labour’s largest electoral success.
For the Conservatives, the result was a complete disaster and it could have been worse as Iain Duncan Smith in Chingford and Woodford Green and Chris Philp in Croydon South barely clung on to their seats.
Duncan Smith was helped by the splitting of the Labour vote between its candidate Shama Tatler and her predecessor Faiza Shaheen, with Tatler only narrowly finishing ahead of Shaheen in the poll.
Shaheen attacked Labour saying: “They’ve let my community down. I’m so angry with them right now. That shouldn’t have happened.”
Philp was predicted to have a 1% of holding his seat in the exit poll but survived by 2,313 votes.
The Liberal Democrats won six seats in the capital but took key targets such as Wimbledon, Carshalton and Wallington and Sutton and Cheam from the Conservatives as part of its best ever performance.
Its Leader Sir Ed Davey said after winning in Kingston and Surbiton: “I am humbled by the millions of people who backed the Liberal Democrats to both kick the Conservatives out of power and deliver the change our country needs.”
Neither the Greens and Reform were able to win any seats in London though they did both win four seats nationwide.
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