It is hard to think what to make of the results from yesterday’s General Election: not just because they were so unforeseen, but because it is far from clear who the real winner is.

Theresa May’s embarrassing miscalculation cannot be called a 'triumph', no matter how many times she insists. Clearly, the left and centre-left’s seat gains demonstrate a resounding shift leftward. But perhaps the person most confused by the enigmatic picture of the results has been Jeremy Corbyn.

“Perhaps the person most confused by the enigmatic picture of the results has been Jeremy Corbyn”

Corbyn's success should not be mischaracterised as a moment for triumphalism. In the last seven weeks, Labour were, to many, at their most inspiring when Corbyn's momentum anticipated Number 10, rather than to just the party of Opposition. The campaign was built on a manifesto that was both ambitious, but one which also staged many pragmatic compromises by Corbyn's team. He did well to break with the alienating and unworkable dogma that characterised his earlier leadership.

Despite promising shifts in the election results, there seems less and less likely an opportunity to enact his ideas, and so the self-professed 'victory' of Corbyn (and many others aligned to the left) seems a concerning return to the dogma that never looked towards change.

The attitudes of those understandably pleased with their defeat of Tory majority today suggest a complacency with ‘insurgency’ rather than government or even opposition. But at the end of the day, the Labour manifesto the country desperately needs was narrowly defeated, and has been replaced with impotent statements from Corbyn and McDonnell.

The results are surprising and enigmatic, yet why is there not disappointment from the left at their narrow miss and the failure of their impressive vision? There is no outrage about the prospect of an unrepresentative Conservative/DUP alliance turning in the other direction to that of the national electoral swing.

For the many who voted out of hope, rather than leftist dogma, this opportunity for change passing by is the opposite of a triumph.

A hung parliament is good news for Cambridge students

The swing of the national vote, against all odds and expectations, can be seen as a mandate against a hard Brexit, against social injustice and austerity and for the alternative political and economic vision Labour (amongst others) strongly advocated.

Despite this, Labour are not in power. There is little reason for the left’s elation. This mandate will be outmanoeuvred and ignored by May and her “friends” in the DUP, just as they warned Ed Miliband would do with the SNP in 2015.

For those who voted progressively, surely there’s more cause than ever for outrage and ambition, when faced with Tory complacency and chaos