UK's Johnson heads to Buckingham Palace to ask to form government

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has left his Downing Street residence to ask Queen Elizabeth for formal permission to create a new government, after his Conservative Party won an unexpectedly large majority in Thursday's national election.

He won a crushing election victory on Friday, ending three years of uncertainty since the country decided to leave the Brexit bloc.

Exiting the European Union, a goal Johnson has pursued relentlessly since he put himself forward as the face of the victorious "Leave" campaign in a 2016 referendum, is Britain's biggest leap into the unknown since World War Two.

Johnson is now free to lead his country swiftly out of the vast trading bloc, but faces the daunting task of negotiating trade deals around the world, not least with the EU itself, and of keeping a divided kingdom in one piece.

"We will get Brexit done on time by the 31st of January, no ifs, no buts, no maybes," a triumphant Johnson told cheering supporters as a grey dawn broke over London.

Later, he went to Buckingham Palace to ask Queen Elizabeth for permission to form a new government - a formal step required under the UK's constitutional monarchy system.

Overnight, results pouring in from the 650 parliamentary constituencies around the United Kingdom showed that Johnson's Conservative Party had trounced its main opponent, winning 364 seats to the Labour Party's 203.