http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12643639
Labour were always going to hold Barnsley Central, despite the huge controversy surrounding the departure of previous MP Eric Ilsey, now serving a prison sentence for fiddling his parliamentary expenses.
This by-election was another opportunity early on in the new parliament for voters to give their verdict on the performance of the Conservatives and their Liberal Democrat coalition partners so far and the path they propose to travel between now and the next general election.
There is no doubt that the Lib Dems' broken promises on tuition fees and their cosying up to the Tories on the need to implement extremely rapid and enormous cuts in public spending were upper-most in voters' minds when they went to the polls in yesterday's by-election.
But I doubt anyone expected Nick Clegg's party to drop from second - their position at last year's general election - to an utterly humiliating sixth place, finishing well behind the Conservatives, who were third, as well as the BNP, UKIP and one of the Independent candidates.
It is a truly-astounding result. Clearly, this is the first of many beatings Nick Clegg and his party are going to endure between now and the next election.
They are waking up to how tough government is.
And we are witnessing this before all the cuts in public spending start to bite.
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