With all but one result declared for the 650-seat parliament in Thursday’s momentous election, Johnson’s Conservative party with ‘Get Brexit done’ chant, had secured 364 seats – its biggest majority since the heyday of Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, AFP reported.

The main opposition Labour party suffered its worst performance since the 1930s, forcing its socialist leader Jeremy Corbyn to announce plans to step down, but Scottish Nationalists performed well, raising the prospect of another push for independence.

The pound shot up to its highest level since mid-2018 on hopes for a swift end to uncertainty over how, when – or even if – Britain was going to draw its often rocky five-decade involvement in the European project to a close.

Condemning more than three years of bitterly divisive political wrangling, Johnson vowed in his victory speech to “put an end to all that nonsense” and “get Brexit done on time by January 31, no ifs, no buts”.

“We did it – we pulled it off,” the pro-Brexit figurehead of the original 2016 EU membership referendum told cheering supporters. “We broke the gridlock, we ended the gridlock, we smashed the roadblock.”

Johnson arrived in Buckingham Palace on Friday to receive formal instructions from Queen Elizabeth II to form a new government.

Even some pro-European voters expressed relief at the outcome, which the pro-Labour Daily Mirror newspaper called a “nightmare”.

“At least it’s clear,” said lawyer Gordon Hockey.

“It’s not necessarily what I wanted but at least we know where we stand and Brexit will happen in some form or other.”

Parliament’s ratification next month of the EU-UK divorce deal will complete the first stage of the Brexit process, but both sides still need to thrash out a new trade and security agreement.

EU Council President Charles Michel said the bloc was set for talks but would do its utmost to protect European priorities.

“My point is very clear: we are ready. We have decided what are our priorities,” Michel said.

The result of Thursday’s snap election – the third in almost five years – signals a personal victory for Johnson, a bombastic former London mayor and foreign minister who staked his political career on the vote.

US President Donald Trump tweeted his congratulations on a “great WIN!” and said London and Washington would be able to strike a “massive new trade deal” after Brexit.

“This deal has the potential to be far bigger and more lucrative than any deal that could be made with the EU Celebrate Boris!” he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged to develop a “friendship and close partnership” with Britain but Russia said it doubted Johnson’s win would improve frayed ties.

Johnson said that if Parliament imposes a longer timetable and “decides to delay everything until January or possibly longer,” he will withdraw Brexit bill and call a vote on holding a snap general election, AP reported.

“I will in no way allow months more of this,” said Johnson, who took power in July vowing that the UK will leave the EU on Oct. 31, come what may. His only hope of doing that is to pass the Brexit—implementing bill through Britain’s fractious Parliament before then.

Johnson’s announcement piles pressure on lawmakers as they consider whether to approve the government’s legislation, which would finally take Britain out of the EU — more than three years after voters opted to leave the bloc.

The bill faces two votes Tuesday, with lawmakers first being asked to approve it in principle, followed by a vote on the government’s schedule for debate and possible amendments.

Johnson said backing the bill would allow lawmakers to “turn the page and allow this Parliament and this country to begin to heal and unite.”

While many analysts expect the bill to be approved, lawmakers may reject the three-day timetable because of concerns it doesn’t provide enough time for scrutiny of the 115-page document, which sets out the terms of Britain’s departure from the 28-nation bloc.

Major bills usually take weeks or months to pass through Parliament, giving time for line-by-line scrutiny by lawmakers.

Green lawmaker Caroline Lucas tweeted that lawmakers “had more time to debate the Wild Animals in Circuses Act (affecting 19 animals) than they will to decide the future of 65 million people. It’s hard to think of anything which better illustrates this Govt’s contempt for people, Parliament & democracy.”

Ominously for the government, some lawmakers who support the Brexit deal said they would vote against the short timetable.

The showdown comes just nine days before Britain’s scheduled departure date. Johnson’s government had sought a “straight up-and-down vote” Monday on the agreement he struck last week with the 27 other EU nations laying out the terms of Britain’s exit.

But the speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, refused to allow it because lawmakers voted to delay approving the Brexit bill on Saturday, and parliamentary rules bar the same measure from being considered a second time during a session of Parliament unless something has changed.

Bercow’s ruling plunged the tortuous Brexit process back into grimly familiar territory: acrimonious uncertainty.

Johnson’s Conservatives hold just 288 of the 650 House of Commons seats, so he will need support from opposition and independent lawmakers to pass the bill — if, that is, Parliament approves the timetable on Tuesday.

The bill turns the deal Johnson struck with the EU into law. It sets out the terms of Britain’s departure, including measures to maintain an open border between the UK’s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland. It also enshrines the right of UK and EU citizens living in the other’s territory to continue with their lives, and sets out the multi-billion pound (dollar) payments Britain must make to meet its financial obligations to the EU.

It also confirms a transition period lasting until at least the end of 2020 — and possibly 2022 — in which relations will remain frozen as they are now while a permanent new relationship is worked out.

Opposition lawmakers plan to seek amendments that could substantially alter Brexit bill, for example by adding a requirement that the bill be put to voters in a new referendum, or by requiring the government to extend the transition period until a new trade deal with the EU has been agreed.