Leading Brexit figure Johnson jeered as departs London home

Other senior Leave figures declined to back Mr Farage’s assessment, which he told the Press Association was based on information from private exit polls conducted by friends in the City, as well as his personal sense of how referendum day had gone.

But former Cabinet ministers Owen Paterson, Cheryl Gillan and David Jones, along with influential backbenchers David Davis and Bernard Jenkin, did not sign. “It was about my children, our children’s future, and our grandchildren’s future, and now they are seeing the consequences, as we warned them, as we said, come to reality”.

Not long after the vote tally was completed, Prime Minister David Cameron, who led the campaign to remain in the bloc, appeared in front of 10 Downing Street to announce that he planned to step down by October, saying the country deserved a leader committed to carrying out the will of the people.

Sterling rose 1% against the United States dollar in overnight markets amid speculation that Remain has won the referendum.

European nations have piled pressure on the United Kingdom to begin immediate talks on withdrawal from the EU in the wake of the vote for Brexit.

Addressing concerns that a Leave vote will stoke the flames of xenophobia in the country, Johnson said the outcome will “take the wind out of the sails of the extremists and those who play politics with immigration. We will get our country back, we will get our independence back and we will get our borders back”.

“I have seen people thinking that it’s acceptable not only to shout traitor at you, but to stand and say I am voting Out because I want these immigrants out”. Ms Francesca Crimp, who works for a bank, cried as she said she was “scared” by the result. I disagree… there is no way of dealing with a decision on this scale except by putting it to the people.

“In voting to leave the European Union, it is vital to stress that there is now no need for haste, and indeed as the Prime Minister has just said, nothing will change over the short term”, he told reporters on Friday.

Johnson paid tribute to Cameron, who led the campaign to remain in the European Union and who announced he would resign after coming out on the losing end of Thursday’s historic referendum.

“We are completely behind him staying, we want him to stay and that letter is a statement of commitment to his leadership”.

Mr Fallon said he had spoken to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg and other key allies to assure them that Britain will not play a “lesser” role on the worldwide scene after Brexit.

“We’ll remain at our posts and we have a big agenda”.

The value of Sterling dropped sharply by around 3% on the markets in an instant reaction to the Sunderland result, as traders took on board the possibility of a strong result for Leave.