So Gorton and Denton has become another of those parliamentary seat names which enters the collective memory of British politics – a name which will stand alongside Glasgow Hillhead, Brent East, Clacton and Bermondsey in the annals of great by-election wins. Divining what it all means could take months or years, but here is my list of winners and losers.

BIG WINNER: Zach Polanski and the Green party

Before last night, the Greens had never won more than 10 per cent (and change) in a British by-election. In Gorton and Denton they topped 40 per cent and won easily. They benefited both from becoming the protest vote of choice against a woefully unpopular government and from hoovering up the ‘stop Farage’ votes on the left. Other parties claimed the Green campaign was ‘run out of the back of a van’ but it was helped by a sparky candidate, 34-year-old plumber Hannah Spencer. She is now their first ever northern MP.

BIG LOSER: Keir Starmer

This was Labour’s sixth-worst by-election defeat ever, in a seat where Labour has not lost since 1931. The Prime Minister vowed to ‘fight on’ in that tetchy tone of voice he uses at PMQs when he thinks he’s not getting the credit he deserves. But Starmer is beginning to resemble the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, swinging aggressively like a drunk outside a pub while he bleeds out on the pavement. I ran into a cabinet minister on Tuesday evening who said a Labour victory would be nice, and failing that, a Reform victory would be tolerable ‘because then we can argue that if you vote Green you get Farage.’ That argument is now defunct. The Greens are immediately a serious challenger in the 39 seats where they are currently second to Labour. They are likely to take chunks out of the Labour vote in other seats this May and in the general election. The perception in the Labour party is that blocking Andy Burnham from standing was a costly and vindictive mistake.

Do Gorton’s Green voters know what they’ve done?

Hannah Spencer has mastered tweeslop

The shamelessness of Zack Polanski

LOOKS LIKE A WINNER BUT IS ACTUALLY A LOSER: Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting

The Manchester mayor and his allies believe that if he had been allowed to stand he would have won, but this is at least questionable given the Greens’ margin of victory. The fabled Manchester Labour........

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