Kelly Blair in 1997 can’t compare

was found out, deservedly so. May thought she could surf to victory on a sea of sewage spread by the right-wing press and she failed. The anti-democracy candidate was defeated. Britain has won and, in the end, even the Tories will win.

It will never approach an election campaign again without a proper policy strategy – fullycosted policies which they are prepared to explain.

Instead, we had a PM who wouldn’t take part in a TV debate because she was “too busy” meeting members of the public.

This was news to the public, other than Tory party activists vetted to within an inch of their lives in case they asked her a question.

Then there was their manifesto, un-costed save for its free breakfast plan for primary school pupils – at a budget of 6.8p per child. With many questions to answer, one of the people who should have been doing so was Chancellor Philip Hammond, who seemed to disappear off the face of the earth.

When I went to work at 8pm on Thursday it was with a feeling of dread. I thought it was going to be a long night.

Then, at 10pm, the exit poll was revealed and the result was so unexpected I did a double take. No mention of a bumper majority, just the Tories would be the largest party.

And when the enormity of it dawned on me . . . I can’t explain the uplift in spirits.

A final bizarre thought sprung to mind after bookies Paddy Power made Corbyn favourite to get the keys to number 10, and I imagined his first phone call.

“Prime Minister Corbyn – there’s US President Donald Trump on the line.” Prime Minister Theresa May