BEFORE I go any further, I’d like to defend Mrs May’s decision to jump into bed with the DUP. I’d like to, but I can’t. It was absurd and panicky and showed all the careful thought of Jason Roy reviewing an LBW decision. Surely she’d have been stronger letting nature take its course. If she’d gone to the Queen and said: “sorry, ma’am, I can’t form a government; you’d better give Chippenham’s favourite son a shout,” then the failure to form a workable government would have been down to Mr Corbyn.

At that point, Her Maj would’ve been forced to say “go on Theresa, give it a go” and, so long as her proposals weren’t too chaotic, she could have carried on pretty much as before, albeit with a strong warning from Joe Public to watch her step. I hope the next Conservative leader (and that can’t be far off) does this. It’s the right thing to do and would not smack of grubby opportunism and self-preservation.

In terms of seats, Labour got a proper shoeing. It took a special kind of ineptness for Mrs May to make this seem like a victory for Mr Corbyn. That’s not to detract from the large strides the Labour Party made in this election but they still lost. And somehow, despite winning, so did the Conservatives.

One of the reasons for the Mrs May’s failure (and failure is how most people regard it) was complacency. It might be more accurate to call it hubris. Most people (me included) felt that Mr Corbyn was there for the taking, we just felt that it could wait; he wasn’t going anywhere and was considered ‘unelectable’. The Labour leader was already facing a lot of attacks from within his own party, despite his purges, and these would have only got worse. Mrs May’s decision to call the election when she did smacked of arrogance, and that irritates people.

The announcement of the election also took most of us by surprise, not least (so it seems) her own election team. They took ages to get going and then floundered. In sharp contrast, Labour basically had an election grab bag by the metaphorical election door and was ready to go immediately.

And how did the Tories eventually get going? By launching an American style slogan-based election that focussed on personalities. It could have worked. But if you’re going to claim to be ‘strong and stable’, you should at least try to appear strong and stable – indeed either would do. But instead we got “What’s your main policy”, “I’m not Corbyn”; “What are you going to do about Brexit?”, “I’m not Corbyn”; “What’s the time, Mrs May?”, “I’m not Corbyn”. And then Labour did the unthinkable (or obvious, in hindsight) and stuck Jezza in a suit, gave him a general spruce up and made sure he didn’t come across as a boggle-eyed loon every time he spoke. Quite the contrary, in fact.

I thought I’d be having plenty of laughs at the expense of the elderly vegetarian, but he confounded those expectations. He didn’t rant or rave and came across as just as strong as Mrs May and far more stable. I doff my Breton fisherman’s cap to him.

Ironically, Labour’s (or more importantly, their leader’s) campaign reminded me of John Major in 1992. Suttton’s finest also turned public perception around by engaging with the people and winning a lot round by just coming across as a decent chap. Perhaps that fact that both are cricket lovers explains their innate ability to connect with their fellow man.

I’m still not a fan or Mr Corbyn and I’d be horrified to see him in charge of the country but I admire and respect him more than I did a month or so ago. My feelings about Mrs May have changed too. She has to go. But who should replace her? Johnson? Davis? Or maybe a dark horse … like Perry?