Conservative leader and Britain's current PM Boris Johnson is facing a tough competition. Johnson has to win back his own seat - fending off a challenge from a young Muslim immigrant who represents the Labour Party.
Johnson who on Wednesday launched the Conservative party's campaign for the elections on December 12, could be facing Ali Milani, a 25-year-old Labour party member. Johnson represents Uxbridge, a suburb of northwest London. It is no longer the safe seat for Boris as it was a decade ago. British lawmakers don't have to live in the districts - or constituencies - they represent, and Johnson doesn't live in Uxbridge, though he makes occasional meet-and-greet appearances.
Milani lives in Uxbridge and went to Brunel University (where he was a student leader). He said Johnson's failure to stop a third runway at Heathrow international airport - he had pledged to lie down in front of the bulldozers - will also hurt the prime minister.
On Tuesday night, Milani went door-to-door in the South Ruislip neighborhood, urging people to toss Johnson out. Milani told The Washington Post, "This is a historic election right here. This could be the very first time we unseat a sitting prime minister. Right here, we have the power to stop Boris Johnson."
Johnson has until Nov. 14 to switch to a safer seat - though such a move appears unlikely, as campaign materials featuring him are already being pushed through mail slots in Uxbridge and South Ruislip. According to The Guardian, Brunel University, Milani’s alma mater, where he is well known could add to his advantage in mobilising the student vote which is crucial if he is to topple Johnson, whose majority was halved in last general election 2017 to just 5,034, now the smallest of any prime minister since 1924.
British MPs seldom live in the districts, or constituencies, they represent, and Johnson doesn’t live in Uxbridge, though he makes occasional meet-and-greet appearances, and Milani who happens to be a local believes could help him.
According to vice.com, after university, Milani spent two terms as student union president, before being elected vice president of the National Union of Students. He is affiliated with the pro-Corbyn Momentum movement, who are mobilising on his behalf on an unprecedented scale in Uxbridge, and he rattles through all the standard Momentum talking points: tuition fee abolition, re-nationalisation, prioritising the climate emergency, ending the creeping privatisation of the NHS.
In the 2017 normal election, Johnson won by 5,034 votes. However, if Labour can swing 5% of the citizens, it could mean trouble for the Prime Minister.
