Johnson: Corbyn is to blame for Tories’ lost Scottish seats

BORIS JOHNSON has blamed Labour’s collapse for the loss of Tory seats in Scotland as he promised unseated MPS that they “will be back”.

The Prime Minister said he would do “everything” to help former MPS – seven of whom lost to the SNP – return.

Labour’s vote share in Scotland fell to less than 20 per cent, bolstering the SNP, while the Conservatives made historic gains in its former “Red Wall” seats in the north of England.

Mr Johnson warned his MPS must be “very, very humble” to retain the support of voters who had switched from Labour to the Conservatives for the first time.

Speaking at a private reception for Tory MPS last week, he said: “We do mourn the loss of some wonderful colleagues. They did a fantastic job.”

Those who lost to the SNP included Paul Masterton, Luke Graham and Stephen

Kerr. The SNP won 48 seats – 13 more than in the 2017 election. The Conservatives retained six, while Labour returned just one, down six.

In a recording of the speech leaked to The Daily Telegraph, Mr Johnson said the Tory MPS lost their seats “through no fault of their own” adding: “It was basically the Labour collapse [that] seemed to be the big problem … But they will be back.”

Welcoming his 109 new members, he praised MPS for their’ results, adding: “Most of your majorities are much much larger than mine.”

Mr Johnson said: “This is like the Christmas carol … They come from all parts of the United Kingdom. From old pit villages … places that haven’t voted Conservative for more than 100 years.

“We must be very, very humble … We cannot now let them down.”

His comments came as Kenneth Clarke, the former chancellor, said Mr Johnson should replace advisers like Dominic Cummings with policy experts.