DELIVER BREXIT
Peterborough by-election: Boris Johnson warns Jeremy Corbyn is measuring the curtains for No10 after Labour squeaks win
BORIS Johnson has warned that Jeremy Corbyn is measuring the curtains up ready for No10 after his by-election victory in Peterborough last night.
Labour Unite activist Lisa Forbes was elected with a tiny majority of just 600 over Brexit Party Mike Greene, denying Mr Farage's party their first seat in Parliament.
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Labour edged to victory last night, revealing the huge fight the Tories have on their hands as Mr Farage's popularity soars.
Tories came out to warn that the result showed exactly how Labour could win a general election if the rest of the vote was split among other candidates.
Boris said this morning: "Conservatives must deliver Brexit by 31st October or we risk Brexit Party votes delivering Corbyn to No10."
And Dominic Raab added: "Last night’s result shows yet again that we must get on and deliver Brexit by the end of October. Failure to do so would not only break our promise to voters, it risks delivering Jeremy Corbyn by the backdoor."
Given 60% of voters in the area backed Brexit in the 2016 referendum, their party very nearly made history yet again.
Mr Farage had been hoping his party would secure its first MP, just 2 months after it formed.
But Ms Forbes, who last night refused to say if she would campaign to Remain in a second referendum, won the seat with 10,484 votes, ahead of the Brexit Party candidate’s 9,801 votes.
In another crushing blow to the Tories, their candidate Paul Bristow came in third place with 7,243 votes. The news will be of little comfort to Theresa May on her final day as Tory leader.
If there were a general election tomorrow with Brexit unresolved it would give the Labour boss a clear path to No10 as the vote is so split.
The Tory and Brexit vote together would have been more than enough to see off Labour last night.
A jubilant Mr Corbyn said this morning: "This shows Labour has support all across the country.
"We are ready for a general election when it comes, and we are going to win it."
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says he'll win general election after Peterborough success
The Sun Says
JEREMY Corbyn’s Marxists can win power against the will of a huge majority of voters. The Peterborough by-election proves it.
The Brexit Party is the best thing that’s happened to him.
The Sun has every sympathy with those protest-voting for Nigel Farage. But the side-effect is terrifyingly clear.
In any election held before Brexit, Farage may or may not win seats. But he WILL scupper Tory chances in more places than he will hurt Labour.
That would be enough to let Corbyn sneak in, unleashing his anti-Semitic hard-Left revolution on a nation staunchly opposed to it — and all but guaranteeing Brexit’s cancellation too.
Remainer Tories should be ashamed of even thinking of crashing their own Government over a No Deal Brexit.
All Tory MPs and leadership candidates — and, yes, Farage too — should think hard now about how best to stop Corbyn and John McDonnell wrecking Britain.
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Who is Lisa Forbes and what does she think of Brexit?
LISA Forbes said today that focusing on other issues rather than Brexit won her the seat in Peterborough.
The Labour candidate told her local paper they wanted her to campaign on "the issues that matter locally" and Brexit wasn't mentioned as much on the doorstep as she expected.
Ms Forbes previously campaigned and voted Remain, but she insists she now repects the result and Britain should follow through with it.
"When people voted to Leave I believe it's our duty to try and respect that result which is what the Labour Party have done. They triggered Article 50," she added.
But she also said she wouldn't vote for a deal if it hurt the country.
Lisa also ran for Parliament for the seat in 2015, but lost out to the Tories' Stewart Jackson.
The former city councillor has lived in the area for 30 years and worked with Unite the Union.
But her controversial social media posts landed her in hot water just days before the election.
She liked a Facebook video which said Theresa May has a ";Zionist slave masters agenda", which she later apologised for.
In her victory speech, Ms Forbes hailed the result and the defeat of the Brexit Party.
"Despite the differing opinions across our city, the fact that the Brexit Party have been rejected here in Peterborough shows that the politics of division will not win," she said.
Mr Greene gave a thumbs down sign as the results were announced - but he said "we will be back".
The defeated Brexit Party candidate said they could not match Labour's organisation on the ground.
"Two parties have been ruling this country for decades. That is not happening anymore. We were ahead of the Tories, only 683 votes behind Labour," he told Sky News.
"They have decades of data. We had nothing just four weeks ago. We did not have the vote numbers they had. We didn't have the voting history they have.
'WE WILL BE BACK'
"We will be back. Let's see what does happen in the next general election."
Brexit Party MEP Claire Fox said Mr Greene's second place was an "amazing achievement" and criticised Ms Forbes' characterisation of the Eurosceptic challengers as promoting the "politics of division".
She tweeted: "Amazing achievement by @MikeGreeneTBP but for @UKLabour new MP to describe @brexitparty_uk as representing politics of division is a mockery and - ironically - typically divisive and sectarian."
Liberal Democrat Beki Sellick won 4,159 votes, Green Party candidate Joseph Wells had 1,035 votes and UKIP’s John Whitby won 400 votes.
The by-election was called after Peterborough's previous MP Fiona Onasanya was forced out after she was jailed for lying about a speeding offence.
Onasanya was elected as a Labour MP with a water-thin majority of 607 and was suspended from the party after she was sentenced.
Both Labour and the Conservatives have campaigned hard ahead of the by-election.
BIG GUNS
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, former prime minister Gordon Brown and Tory big guns Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt all visited the city in the lead-up.
Corbyn congratulated Ms Forbes on her win, saying she ran a "people powered campaign".
Mr Farage had hoped his new party would entering the Commons for the first time - just months after it was founded - in a massive blow to both Labour and the Tories.
He earlier told The Sun Online: "For Peterborough to elect their first Brexit Party MP on D-Day would be hugely symbolic - it would be democracy day.
"It's clearly a two horse race, between us and Labour. But it feels pretty good.
"In normal circumstances that Labour should be winning this seat by tonnes of votes but they are really worried they are going to lose it us. It's going to be very close all the way."
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The Tories were originally believed to have a good chance of taking Peterborough.
But after Brexit was delayed beyond March 29, the party's poll ratings collapsed and it would now be a big shock if they did win.
Labour's candidate Lisa Forbes has been hit with claims of anti-Semitism during the campaign.
LABOUR VICTORY: The results in full
Lisa Forbes (Labour) 10,484 (30.91%, -17.17%)
Mike Greene (Brexit) 9,801 (28.89%)
Paul Bristow (Conservative) 7,243 (21.35%, -25.45%)
Beki Sellick (Liberal Democrat) 4,159 (12.26%, +8.92%)
Joseph Wells (Green) 1,035 (3.05%, +1.27%)
John Whitby (UKIP) 400 (1.18%)
Tom Rogers (Christian People’s Alliance) 162 (0.48%)
Stephen Goldspink (English Democrats) 153 (0.45%)
Patrick O’Flynn (Social Democratic Party) 135 (0.40%)
Howling ‘Laud’ Hope (Official Monster Raving Loony Party) 112 (0.33%)
Andrew Moore (Peterborough People’s Party) 101 (0.30%)
Dick Rodgers (Common Good) 60 (0.18%)
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