From the outset of the UK election campaign, the Conservative Party set out to trigger a "blue wave" that would smash a band of opposition seats stretching from coast to coast in the northern half of England.
This was the Labour Party's "red wall" of constituencies that had not changed hands in decades, some stretching back to the 1920s.
An exit poll by three television broadcasters signalled that the dreams of campaign planners were about to come true, predicting 368 seats for Boris Johnson's party. Within 90 minutes the crumbling of the red wall began to play out as the results were announced.
Soon there was a torrent of shocks for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Throughout the night, the loss of seats was relentless with only blimps in metropolitan areas, such as London and Bristol.
There was initial respite for Mr Corbyn as the party held seats in Newcastle, Sunderland and South Shields.
But the early-counting northern areas began to topple with an announcement of a Conservative gain at 11.31pm in the Blyth constituency.
Shipbuilding in the area was decimated in the 1980s and it had been a Labour seat since 1935.
"I have voted for Labour for over 50 years and they have just stood still," one local pensioner said.
"It's the first time in my life I have voted Conservative and the first time I've ever had to queue in a polling station. I hesitated for a moment but Labour has just taken us for granted. They have totally lost the plot."
A London think tank predicted in November that the key voter in the poll would be "Workington man".
Sure enough, Labour suffered the shock of losing the west coast seat of Workington – a seat represented by a Labour MP for 97 out of the past 100 years. Labour took only 16,312 votes compared to the Conservatives 20,488.
The third shock of the night came as the Conservatives took Darlington as shadow Brexit spokeswoman Jenny Chapman lost her seat by more than 3,000 votes.
By 2am it was apparent that the prediction of the Conservatives getting their biggest majority since 1987 would come true.
Other seats across the north followed suit – from Peterborough to Blackpool. Major shocks included the loss of the steelworks town of Scunthorpe to the Conservatives.
Mr Johnson himself would later quip another steel town, Redcar, could change its name to Bluecar after delivering a Conservative victory.
The big issue driving the change in the region, which has lagged far behind the country's more prosperous south, was the British exit from the EU.
Mr Corbyn tried to hedge his position on Brexit while Mr Johnson cut through with a relentless mantra on completing the Brexit process by January 31.
"The north-east voted overwhelmingly to leave the EU at the 2016 referendum and has become as frustrated as the rest of the country at the extraordinarily slow progress to achieving that goal," said The Newcastle Chronicle newspaper.
"From the start, the Conservatives ruthlessly set out their stall for the election with the memorable motto ‘Get Brexit Done’. While Labour countered with its ‘Not For Sale’ mantra in an attempt to push the NHS to the forefront, it did not have the same impact."
With the impact of the election yet to settle, another northern newspaper warned Mr Johnson that he would still have to earn the trust of the regional electorate.
"As the PM contemplates how to honour his 'Get Brexit Done' mantra by January 31, he also needs – even if this proves to be his 'finest hour', to paraphrase his great hero Winston Churchill – to heed The Yorkshire Post's eve of election call for honesty and humility," it said.
Mr Johnson's victory speech directly addressed the challenge of keeping the new supporters onside.
“You may only have lent us your vote, you may not think of yourself as a natural Tory and you may intend to return to Labour next time round. If that is the case I am humbled that you have put your trust in me. I will never take your support for granted,” he said at his party's headquarters in central London.
Former UN counter-terrorism specialist Imran Ahmed Khan took the former coal mining Labour stronghold of Wakefield from Labour for the first time in almost 90 years.
He praised Mr Johnson for leading the Conservatives to a “historic victory”.
"We must get Brexit done," he said.
Outgoing Labour MP Mary Creagh said it had been a “disastrous” night.
She had been a staunch remainer which had left many in her electorate feeling alienated.
"I have always voted Labour but we want to see Brexit happen and she just wasn't representing our views," Beverley Lloyd, 49, said.
Thomas Griffiths, 30, voted for Labour but understood why his friends and neighbours had turned away from the party.
"The election has just been a vote for Brexit," he said.
"People feel Labour has let them down. I think you will see a totally different result in the next local elections. I doubt people will vote for Conservative councillors and Labour will continue to triumph. Grassroots Labour has been let down by the characters in London and after this I do not see how Corbyn can continue."
More than a million younger voters signed up before the election but this failed to work in Labour's favour.
The election had been fought by Mr Johnson in the traditional Labour heartlands of the north.
The working class mining towns had predominantly voted to leave the EU.
Gareth Snell, who lost his seat in Stoke, said responsibility for the "disastrous" result was down to Mr Corbyn and his leadership team.
"This is one of the worst results the Labour Party could have ever imagined," he said. "The damage and untold horrors [the Conservatives] will unleash in Stoke-on-Trent, I believe, lie firmly at the door of those running the national party's campaign and the decisions that they have made, about where to target and the sort of Brexit response they should have made."
Mr Johnson's sweep did run into some setbacks thrown up by candidates of the Brexit Party, the fringe movement that drove the EU referendum campaign.
In the industrial town of Hartlepool, which saw Labour win with 15,464 votes, the vote was split with the Conservatives taking 11,868 and the Brexit Party taking 10,603.
A similar picture emerged in Hull East, where Labour lost its majority and only just held onto the seat which had previously been held by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.
Labour voters held their heads in their hands as they watched the results gathered in party rooms across the country.
The hurt in their faces was seen most acutely when losses included industrial heartlands.
There were loud gasps in Wakefield when the loss of Redcar was announced.
As the domino effect continued and one by one their northern neighbours turned blue, the loud,jovial singing was replaced with stunned silence.
"What have they done?," said Vicky Smith.
"We are now facing five years of poverty and hell. Our health service will be sold off and destroyed. That's it, life is over."
A congratulatory tweet by US President Donald Trump, saying "Looking like a big win for Boris in the UK", just added salt to the wound to those watching with despair.
"Look, he's already gloating," Mr Griffiths said. "We won't be able to afford medicines in the future when he gets his hands on our NHS."
While Mr Corbyn announced just after 3am that he would not lead his party into any future general election, he triggered yelps of despair by vowing to stay on for a period of "reflection" and discussion of the left-wing party's future.
The new breed of Conservative MP in the area is now typified by Lia Nici, who won Great Grimsby, a fishing port city and former Labour stronghold.
“I shall be listening to everyone in the constituency, I’m the MP for everyone. I’m from Grimsby, I’m a grafter,” she said.
If Mr Johnson delivers for his new colleague, the scale of the challenge for Labour could be generational not just a change of leader.
