In history, the arrival of a small man in a big hat is rarely good news. - Andrew Marr

Business never rests.

I'd very rarely quote George Galloway as an authority, but when he describes Rochdale as "tinder dry, waiting for a spark" I am afraid – very much afraid – he isn't wrong.

As the night wore on, it became clearer this was not just a simple Tories-out, Labour-in story. The more we look in detail, the more this seems like the night of the great insurgency – a multi-sided protest and revolt against politics as usual. The British public was sending the political class, Labour included, a message which could be summed up as: we, not you, are the masters now, and for a very long time to come.