But voters weren’t having a bit of it, denying the Conservatives their victory, crashing Mrs May’s political authority, delighting Mr Corbyn’s supporters by overwhelming their expectations, and robbing his internal enemies in the Labour party of their excuse to move against him.

If only 50 people across just four seats had voted Conservative... the Tories would have effectively won a majority

What the atmosphere in politics now obscures is that Mrs May was, technically, the winner.

The Tories had more seats, more votes, and increased their overall share.

And if only 50 people across just four seats had voted Conservative, instead of voting for the winning candidate, the Tories would have effectively won a majority.

Yes, you read that right. If 50 people in four decisive constituencies, a crowd that would fit easily on a school bus, had voted for Theresa May’s party, she would have suffered a reputational hit by falling back, but still have been able to operate in parliament without help from other parties (because the seven Sinn Fein MPs won’t take up their seats 322 is an effective majority).

At the next level, she would have reached an absolute majority of 326 if the Conservatives had achieved a grand total of 794 extra votes in the right places. Yes, our politics changed overnight, but if only a tiny number of votes had gone the other way, the outcome would have been so different.

What the political parties are now trying to understand is how we ended up here, why their expectations were wrong.