Johnson pounded in regional poll

London – Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party lost control of key councils in London, according to partial results from local and regional UK elections yesterday, with a potentially historic change looming in Northern Ireland.

The main opposition Labour Party of Keir Starmer won control of long-term Conservative strongholds in the capital, including Wandsworth and Barnet as well as Westminster, for the first time since 1964, with around a third of English votes counted.

Results so far are not a landslide for Labour, with the centrist Lib Dems and Greens making inroads elsewhere in England. Conservative Party chairman Oliver Dowden played down losses and insisted Johnson was not under threat. –