Starmer apologises to Rochdale voters after Galloway by-election win

So where does this leave the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer?

Galloway claimed in one letter sent to folk here that “if Labour lose this by-election, Sir Keir Starmer could well be forced out as Labour leader. Sir Keir Starmer, a top supporter of Israel, out”.

We can categorise that as the hyperbole of the campaign trail.

But boy the divisions on the left over Gaza will now have noisy expression on the green benches.

Starmer will take some comfort not from the fact that Rochdale is unique.

Demographically, it is not.

There are plenty of communities with a significant Muslim population where the plight of people in Gaza is of particular concern.

What will comfort the Labour leader is not that Rochdale is unique. But that Galloway is.

Finding equivalent candidates who can personify outrage about the Middle East with the longevity, potency and profile of Galloway will be very difficult indeed.

But that doesn’t take away from the fact that the titan brands of British politics, not least the Conservatives and Labour, the party of government and the party that aspires to govern soon, were not just humbled but humiliated here.

And we’ll hear plenty more about that once Galloway gets to the House of Commons.

• Read Chris Mason’s full analysis on the Rochdale by-election result here.