Just over an hour before the polls closed on Thursday, I took a call from a member of the Shadow Cabinet.

‘There’s a strong possibility Jeremy’s going to resign tonight,’ they said. ‘He’s not going to Labour HQ from his count. They’re going to try to keep him away from people, and see if they can get him to change his mind.’

There was no need to keep him away from people. The people were coming to him – in numbers not seen for a Labour leader since the 2001 Blair landslide.

There are several ways to look at the events of the past week. But primarily it must be through the eyes of the man whose name will forever be synonymous with them. This was Jeremy Corbyn’s election

‘Do you believe the exit poll,’ I asked one Minister in a supposedly secure Tory seat. ‘I don’t know what to believe any more,’ he replied. Three hours later, he was gone.

There are several ways to look at the events of the past week. But primarily it must be through the eyes of the man whose name will forever be synonymous with them. This was Jeremy Corbyn’s election.

He defied the polls, the pundits, his opponents – internal and external – and redefined British political campaigning. The crowds didn’t lie. The cheers of his young supporters found an echo. The Labour Surge was real.

We should also look at it through the hollowed eyes of Theresa May. This was supposed to be the moment the voters validated her premiership. Instead, they repudiated her with the same brutal efficiency with which they repudiated her predecessor. There will be no mandate. Hers was a phantom premiership.

But we must also narrow our focus. This is supposedly a time for those of us who criticised the Corbyn project to devour humble pie. To join the rejection of the politics of austerity and recant our cynicism.

Wrong. Now is not the time to do any of those things. British politics has just survived a near-death experience. Only 2,000 extra votes over seven seats and May would have been unable to form an administration. Corbyn would not have been a Left-wing folk hero, he would have been Prime Minister.

It is important for people to recognise his achievement. But it is also important to recognise his failings did not disappear at 10pm on June 8. His tolerance of Labour anti-Semitism. His long-standing commitment to unilateralism. His repudiation of internationalism. His embrace of Trumpian economic populism. His ongoing flirtation with Marxism. His ambiguous response to terrorism.

The moment dictates we are supposed to set all this aside – if it was good enough for the voters of Kensington, it should be good enough for the rest of us. But it is not. The rout of the moderates has to stop now.

This is supposedly a time for those of us who criticised the Corbyn project to devour humble pie

Not just of Corbyn’s critics in his own party, but of all who recognise the fetishisation of marginal politics – on Left and Right – is leading us to catastrophe. For the Conservative Party, this is manifesting itself in the kamikaze dive towards hard Brexit.

For the fourth successive time, a Tory prime minister has been crucified on the altar of Europe. And if it happens again, we will all be sacrificed. Corbyn, or one of his acolytes, will be handed the keys to Downing Street, and Brexit – hard or soft – will be quietly consigned to history.

TO HIS credit, David Davis appeared to acknowledge this on Friday morning, when he hinted the pledge to leave the single market and customs union could be reviewed by the British people.

But that will not be good enough if Davis finds himself outflanked in the leadership contest that will follow May’s inevitable resignation. As one Minister told me: ‘There comes a point when you have to put the party and your own ambition aside for the national interest.’ That point has been reached. It has been reached within the Labour Party, too.

Humility is attractive – to some. But the parade of moderates queuing up to renounce former criticisms of their leader is becoming reminiscent of a Soviet show-trial.

Labour MPs did not oppose Corbynism solely because they questioned its electoral viability. They opposed it because they thought it was wrong. As one MP said: ‘People keep raving about the manifesto. But it wasn’t the manifesto Jeremy wanted. It was basically turbo-charged Milibandism.’

A failure to acknowledge Corbyn’s greatness is now viewed within the Labour movement as nothing less than a thought crime. But many Labour MPs should recall the pact they made with voters: ‘Don’t worry, you can vote for me – Jeremy won’t become Prime Minister.’

Deficit reduction. Terrorism. Social inequality. Theresa May thought she had found a solution to many of these issues

He didn’t, but it was a damn close call. Too close. The challenges facing the British people are mounting. Brexit. Austerity. Deficit reduction. Terrorism. Social inequality. Theresa May thought she had found a solution to many of these issues. Or that she would at least be given the opportunity to search for one.

In the end, she was mistaken. But let’s not kid ourselves. If Corbyn was sitting in No 10 today, Britain would not be safer, or richer, or even fairer. Britain would be heading for the abyss. In the 2017 election – the Corbyn election – the moderates were routed. Another election is fast approaching. None of us can afford to see them routed again.

The resignations of Theresa May’s aides Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy yesterday came as little surprise after the damning revelations about their tyrannical rule from former colleague Katie Perrior.

According to a friend of Perrior: ‘They made a mistake when they took on Katie. She used to work for Boris, and she doesn’t take any crap from anyone.’ I’m told the deterioration of relations dates back to one of May’s overseas visits.

The resignations of Theresa May’s aides Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy yesterday came as little surprise after the damning revelations about their tyrannical rule from former colleague Katie Perrior

‘It was Katie’s job to prep Theresa for her press conference,’ one official said, ‘and Katie was asking her some tough questions. Fiona pulled her aside and started laying into her, saying, “How dare you talk to Theresa like that!” ’

The Cabinet had apparently made the sacking of Hill and Timothy a red line in negotiations over the continuation of May’s premiership.