Rochester by-election: Six things we learnt about Ukip, Labour and the Greens

Did you know what Emily Thornberry did?

Mark Reckless, a Tory MP, has announced he is defecting to Ukip (Getty)

On the night that Ukip got its second elected MP, Labour lost a member of its shadow cabinet and the Tories were well and truly humbled in the polls, here are six other things we learnt from last night’s Rochester and Strood by-election.

It’s the unexpected that makes news

The most important fact from last night’s count is that Ukip seized a "safe" Conservative seat, though not by a wide enough majority for them to be confident of holding it in next year’s by-election. But that was expected. Looking at the bulletins, you might think that the really important news was an insensitive tweet from the Labour MP, Emily Thornberry. Nobody saw that coming.

Emily Thornberry was the shadow Attorney General

Don’t pretend you already knew.

Emily Thornberry (PA)

Ukip may be taking more votes from Labour than the Tories

On the face of it, the Tories fared worse than Labour, seeing their vote fall by more than 14 per cent , while Labour’s fell by 12 per cent, but it is probable that a good chunk of the disappearing Lib Dem vote went to Labour, compensating for some of what they lost to UKIP.

(ITV)

The Liberal Democrats have more supporters than the Monster Raving Loony Party

But only just. The unfortunate Lib Dem candidate scored less than one per cent of the vote. It is their worst by-election result since the party was formed over 25 years ago, the worst by any major party in a parliamentary by-election that anyone can remember, but at least they beat the Loony, Hairy Knorm Davidson, by 345 votes to 151.

(Getty)

The Greens are on the up and up

The Green party has come near to matching UKIP’s sudden rise, but they were the only party apart from Ukip to do better in the by election than they did in the same seat in 2010, and they comfortably beta the Liberal Democrats.

(Corbis)

Visits by the Prime Minister do not win by-elections

There used to be a convention that prime ministers did not campaign in by elections Margaret Thatcher never did, but David Cameron set a new record by turning up in Rochester and Strood no fewer than five times.