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The real heroes of this extraordinary general election were the British people. They refused to be bribed, bullied or bamboozled. Instead, they delivered a double blow to the Labour Party.

First, total rejection of Jeremy Corbyn and everything he stands for — including the outright lies on which its campaign was based. Second, an emphatic reiteration of the 2016 referendum

result. Labour was severely punished for its betrayal of the Brexit result and its embrace of a second referendum. It was, however, also a triumph for Boris Johnson beyond anything he could

have hoped for. His personal victory is undeniable. Indeed, it is so overwhelming that there is a risk of hubris. The Prime Minister will press ahead with Brexit and his programme, but he

will be wise to listen carefully to the message sent by the electorate. For years, the country has been crying out for radical change, not only in our relationship with Europe but also in

the way we are governed. It has decided to trust Boris Johnson to deliver that change. He will know just how hard-won that trust has been. The electoral annihilation of the Left for its

mendacious claims, such as that the Tories would sell off the NHS to Donald Trump, is a reminder of what can happen when politicians take voters for fools. Boris Johnson will now have to

deliver on his promise this morning to reunite a divided country. He will have to flesh out what he means by “One Nation Conservatism”. With a majority of 80, Boris Johnson should have no

difficulty enacting his version of Brexit. The real question is: what will he do with the freedom of action that leaving the EU will give him? Brussels is already demanding a trade deal that

preserves “a level playing field”, which is code for regulatory and fiscal alignment with Europe. But President Trump is promising a far bigger and more lucrative deal with America. Both

the EU and the US are protectionist trade blocs. The newly Conservative regions of England and Wales will expect the Government they have just helped to elect to protect their jobs and

interests. Striking a balance between free trade and protectionism won ’t be easy; there are bound to be winners and losers. But Boris is instinctively a free trader. We can expect him to

err on the side of building an economy that is open to the whole world, rather than merely exchanging one trading bloc for another. This Prime Minister will also wish to be seen as a social

reformer. We can expect the mean-spirited aspects of austerity to be swept away in order to succour the more vulnerable members of society. Social care requires root-and-branch reform; so

does Universal Credit. Education has made great strides, as the Pisa results show, but too many children are still condemned to mediocre schools. Radical ideas such as those piloted by

Katharine Birbalsingh, founder and headmistress of Michaela School in Wembley, should now be rolled out rapidly across the blighted and benighted towns where generations have been let down

by the education establishment. The NHS was a huge issue in a campaign that shed more heat than light. Spending more money on neglected areas such as mental health is not going to solve the

problem of an ageing population with vast disparities in life expectancy and well-being. But the NHS has been the graveyard of too many politicians for Boris Johnson to plunge straight into

a major shakeup. He will tread carefully, focusing on piecemeal improvements in management and boosting numbers of nurses. In the long term, however, we need to move as many people as

possible to an insurance system that preserves the best of the NHS but depoliticises its funding. Finally, it is satisfying to reflect on how many in the media refused to believe that Boris

Johnson could do what he has now done. He has been consistently denigrated and underrated. He has the mandate, as he says, to unleash the potential of this country. He can and surely will

promote dynamic new faces to carry out the most radical transformation of Britain since Margaret Thatcher. Getting Brexit done is only a means to that end. Boris Johnson has been given the

tools. Now he needs to finish the job.