London: The protracted uncertainty over Brexit that haunted Britain seems to have ended with Prime Minister Boris Johnson's big election gamble paying off with a "stonking mandate", a development that augurs well for UK-India strategic ties, as it offers continuity in the bilateral relations.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to power with an even bigger majority for the BJP in May, his British counterpart Johnson won a landslide mandate to implement his central "Get Brexit Done" pledge by January 31 deadline.
The snap poll on December 12 was called because of the "B word" that has dominated much of British politics since the June 2016 referendum in favour of leaving the European Union (EU).
Johnson took over from Theresa May at 10 Downing Street in July after a bruising leadership struggle due to repeated failures by the former prime minister to get her so-called EU divorce bill through Parliament. But Johnson faced similar frustrations in the House of Commons with his "new and improved" EU Withdrawal Agreement due to the realities of a minority government.
He took a gamble with the first pre-Christmas polls in the UK's history for nearly a century, which paid off with a 364-seat haul, based largely on his central "Get Brexit Done" pledge.
Addressing a victory rally in London, Johnson hailed a "new dawn" which "unarguably" broke the Brexit deadlock and called for closure on the subject.
While his win puts Britain on course to finally exit the 28-member economic bloc by the January 31 deadline, it also sets in motion closer ties with India not least if Johnson is to be relied on his own campaign pledges to "Narendrabhai".
"I know Prime Minister Modi is building a new India. And, we in the UK government will support him fully in his endeavour," he declared, as he appeared adorning a tilak at the famous Swaminarayan Mandir in London, just days before the election.
"British Indians have played a vital role in helping the Conservatives win elections in the past. When I told Narendrabhai (Modi) this, he just laughed and said Indians are always on the winning side," he claimed, which may be even more true this time than in the past, given the Opposition Labour Party's crushing defeat in its traditional heartlands.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had angered sections of British Indian voters over the party's perceived anti-India stance on Kashmir.