Last week’s snap election in the United Kingdom represented an extraordinary victory for the Labour Party’s left, which has been engaged in an internecine battle against its parliamentary right since the 1920s and the heyday of the Independent Labour Party. Indeed, the Blairite barbs against Jeremy Corbyn were all too similar to the attacks on the Maxtonites in the thirties and the Bennites in the seventies and eighties.

Despite this infighting, Labour returned a historic result: thanks to a daring anti-austerity manifesto, Corbyn delivered a resounding victory for his party. Coupled with a diminished but still robust vote for the Scottish National Party (SNP), and a historic breakthrough for Sinn Féin, Labour’s victory and the election represent a broad mandate for the anti-austerity left.

Though the Left has been rightly celebrating these results, we cannot ignore the monster the election has revived. At least for now, the Tories are clinging to power with the support of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). The loose agreement between these two parties will give unprecedented influence to one of the worst segments of British politics.