LONDON - Early results from Britain's general election indicate that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has won a thumping victory that not only consolidates his hold on power until the middle of the next decade, but also virtually guarantees that Britain will leave the European Union next month, as he promised.

Since polls closed only at 6am Singapore time, most of the ballots are still being counted. But an extensive exit poll conducted by the BBC, Britain's state-funded broadcaster, predicts that Mr Johnson's Conservatives are on course to capture 368 seats in the 650 seat-strong House of Commons, an absolute majority and the best result for the party since its heyday under Lady Margaret Thatcher, back in the 1980s.