Theresa May's astounding arrogance has now paved the way for another general election and a Tory leadership contest

A Tory leadership contest that could see Boris Johnson emerge as our new prime minister, another general election and nobody to represent us at the Brext negotiation table: this is the fine mess we've been left in by a leader whose 'strong and stable' promises are looking increasingly ironic

The arrogance of The Conservative Party never ceases to amaze me. It was arrogance that took us out of European Union, and it is arrogance that propelled this unnecessary election into reality: an arrogant belief that Labour and Jeremy Corbyn were so fundamentally unelectable, that young voters were too lazy to actually be paying attention to what five years of austerity has done to this country. When Theresa May walked out to that podium at Downing Street six weeks ago, she thought it was going to be a landslide.

No one expected this. Having stood on many a doorstep over the past few months campaigning for Labour across the country, I must admit I was worried that maybe May was right. And yet, this evening, to the most pleasant surprise, I’ve been proved wrong.

There is such joy in watching so many Labour MPs not only hold their seats but increase their majorities by thousands. In particular the increase of MPs who are women of colour brings me hope for the future: hope that perhaps the vitriol that women like Diane Abbott received during this campaign will not define our political landscape for years to come.

Even Nick Clegg, a man whose local popularity seemed to have saved him from the dustbin of MPs tanked for their broken promises and weak voting record, didn’t survive the evening. It turns out that students have long memories, particularly when those tuition hikes start to eat into the salaries of their underpaid graduate jobs.

It seems to be the case that Labour, for all the naysayers and derision they’ve received, are the real winners today. Irrespective of whether they get an overall majority, Corbyn and his team have proven that grassroots, values-based campaigning is popular, and is meaningful to thousands and thousands of people in this country. Consider it a small ray of sunshine in the flaming dumpster that was this election campaign.

Despite a lot of the good news streaming out of counts everywhere right now, make no mistake: this is going to be chaos. A deep and growing sense of frustration is about to ripple through the country, because what May has essentially done in her arrogance is take a gamble that could cost us decades of stability and prosperity.

It is likely that what awaits us over the next few weeks is, to put it bluntly, a mess. Hung parliament. No clear majority. No willingness to form a coalition. A possible resignation from the Prime Minister (whether she’s pushed or jumps is yet to be seen) and then yet another leadership contest. Boris Johnson is said on the Westminster grapevine to already be positioning himself as a candidate, yet his reputation has turned increasingly sour over the last few years. Many now regard him as a cynical power-grabber without much regard for the people he claims to represent.

The Tories have spent the last two years playing Russian roulette with the electorate in the hope of cementing their credibility, and causing utter shambles along the way. Having barely recovered from a referendum result which caused deep divisions and painful rifts within our society, and as Europe watches us scramble for any sort of political legitimacy, who will now head into the talks that will determine our economic and political future?

Theresa May has now shoved us off a cliff into political unknowns just when what we actually needed was, ironically enough, some strong and stable leadership. Any reassurance from Westminster that the lives of ordinary people in this country mattered more than political point-scoring would be welcome. What we’ll get instead, despite the Labour surge, is yet another election, whether that be in two months’ or two years’ time.

It feels inspiring and hopeful that we have so many progressive and wonderful MPs back in the Commons. But until we have a government and a plan of how to get ourselves through this, that hope is limited to a symbolic step in the right direction.

In the words of one particularly concise campaign poster: strong and stable, my arse.