Throughout polling day, campaigners were beset by torrential rain. Pollsters were still nervous about calling the election results wrong, after several embarrassing failures in the last decade. The unpredictability meant that despite expectations of a Conservative victory, when the exit poll predicted an eighty-seat majority, it still came as a shock to most people.

Recriminations from centrists implacably opposed to the Left were swift, but the election yielded genuine lessons, both positive and negative. The biggest story for the Left was just how many people were convinced to get out campaigning. Thousands who had never knocked a door or even delivered a leaflet before put themselves forward for training, plowing hours of time into fighting for Labour seats. Momentum sought to re-harness the technological nous it had shown in 2017 with websites showing where nearby campaigning events were, which marginals needed volunteers, and allowing people to phone bank remotely. Leading up to polling day, campaigners could book tickets on buses to constituencies in need of people on doorsteps, and thousands took time off work to dedicate themselves to campaigning.

For many, campaigning initially seemed daunting: the idea of speaking to stranger after stranger and asking them to switch their vote or support your cause is intimidating. But it also made many feel more confident in their own skills and ability to advocate for a cause. Immediately after the results were announced, huge numbers of people were already defying hopelessness by planning to channel that energy into volunteering and organizing locally: despite the victory of a government that has shown absolute disregard for the homeless, for migrants, for people with disabilities, and the poorest and most precarious in society, the work of campaigning against the Tories had strengthened people’s commitment to fighting for a longer victory rather than accepting defeat. Despair is an easy emotion to give in to, but fighting back is more satisfying as well as productive.