British politics has been turned on its head, yet again. The unthinkable has become reality. The Green Party’s stunning victory in the Gorton and Denton by-election is truly a seismic event.

Not only is it the first time the party has won one, Hannah Spencer becomes their fifth MP in parliament and their first in the North of England. The Greens have been surfing on a wave of popularity that has seen its leader, Zack Polanski, surging in the polls.

Aside from saving the planet, the Green manifesto is a treasure trove of policies ranging from the ambitious to the somewhat bizarre, most notably - legalising Heroin. They are well and truly on a high today.

But what does their victory mean for their rivals? Reform UK’s Matthew Goodwin came second while Sir Keir Starmer suffered fresh humiliation with Labour struggling in third place.

It is the second by-election in a row, after Caerphilly in Wales, that Reform has failed to win when seemingly on the cusp of victory.

While this is certainly a blow for them, and dents their rising status in UK politics, it again highlights that they are vulnerable to tactical voting and a split Left.

If they want to form a majority at the next general election Nigel Farage must find a way to defeat a fragmented system which could produce a five-way split in the vote.

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Sir Keir, meanwhile, will be choking on his cornflakes this morning. A week which began with the arrest of Lord Peter Mandelson is ending with him losing another seat in parliament.

Labour - who had won in this area for almost a century - only came third with the party having thrown the kitchen sink behind candidate Angeliki Stogia in the past few days.

They got their tactics wrong, focusing on Reform and ignoring the Greens.

Grumblings over Sir Keir’s leadership are surely going to get louder again.

Labour’s woeful performance is likely to foreshadow May’s upcoming elections in Wales, Scotland and local councils in which they are facing wipeout.

Meanwhile, the Tories will have some headscratching to do after suffering the indignity of losing their by-election deposit after only securing a measly 1.9% share of the vote.