Boris Johnson has pledged to remove Britain from the European Union by the end of next month, following his crushing defeat of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party in Thursday’s general election. While the British prime minister has made promises to “get Brexit done” by other previous deadlines, his comprehensive victory has now removed any impediment in Parliament, so it appears certain the U.K. will leave the EU by Jan. 31. In his victory speech in London on Friday morning, Johnson said the massive swing away from Corbyn gave him a “powerful new mandate to get Brexit done.” Johnson said: “With this election, I think we’ve put an end to all those miserable threats of a second referendum,” and added that he will complete Brexit by the January deadline “no ifs, no buts.” Johnson, who is now set to serve for five years, hailed his victory, saying “we smashed the roadblock, we ended the gridlock.” Corbyn has remained silent since a brief speech in the early hours of Friday morning in which he said he wouldn’t lead Labour in another election, but offered no timeline for his exit.
