Labour leader was enjoying David Cameron's nightmare week, but Bradford West result has shocked his party
If a week was a long time in politics in the era of Harold Wilson, then a night in politics is about as long as it gets these days.
Ed Miliband went to bed on Thursday night confident that David Cameron was suffering a dreadful week which highlighted some of the prime minister's key political weaknesses.
The Labour leader woke this morning with the spotlight back on him after George Galloway's extraordinary victory in the Bradford West byelection.
The driving force behind the Respect party, whose oratory occasionally soars to heights far removed from reality, will now be listened to with great care after describing his win as the "most sensational victory in British political history".
David Blunkett, the former home secretary, highlighted the shock in Labour circles. "Thank goodness they voted rather than rioted," Blunkett told the Today programme as he noted the high turnout of more than 50.78%.
A truly sensational byelection shakes the foundations of the political establishment. Galloway has certainly achieved that in Bradford West, held by Labour since 1974, with a swing of more than 36.6% against Labour.
It was a dreadful result, too, for the Tories in a seat targeted by the party at the last general election. The Conservative vote fell by 22.78 percentage points to just 2,746 votes.
But the pressure will now be on Miliband after Labour saw a late surge in Bradford West to Galloway. Respect's historic victory vote raises a worrying trend for Miliband highlighted in the elections to the Scottish parliament in 2011 where Alex Salmond achieved the first majority at Holyrood after a weak performance by Labour. This is that Labour is failing to become the natural home for opposition voters in some parts of Britain.
Harriet Harman set the tone on the Today programme for Miliband's response. The result was very disappointing and worrying for Labour, Harman said, as she laid out the grim facts: twice as many people voted Respect as voted Labour.
Harman then said that Labour would listen with great care to what happened in Bradford. "There is a deep problem in Bradford and we will address it," she said.
Labour's deputy leader, who pointed out that the party had won a string of byelections elsewhere, was saying in guarded terms what the veteran Labour MP Keith Vaz said in rather more forthright terms. Bradford is a special case where lingering resentment over Labour's involvement in the 2003 Iraq war still dominates.
Respect will work hard to show that Bradford West is not a one-off dominated by one issue. Salma Yaqoob, the party's leader, said that voters had objected to the austerity of the coalition and the "austerity lite" of Labour.
The remarks by Yaqoob raises the prospect of an unlikely alliance between Respect, which regards British troops in Afghanistan as an occupying force, and the Tories. Respect and the Tories both have an interest in saying that Miliband has a deep problem in what should be home turf for Labour.
The prime minister will no doubt amuse his colleagues in their morning meeting with a wisecrack about Miliband. Downing Street can scarcely believe its luck after a remarkable turnaround. Awkward headlines about the Tories – over their handling of the fuel dispute and their penchant for what Francis Maude described as private supper parties with rich donors – will now be replaced by grim ones for Labour.
As Labour and the Tories squabble over the significance of Bradford West, they may overlook one major consequence of the byelection. Galloway will now be back in the House of Commons when MPs debate the Chilcot report into the Iraq war which may be published before the summer recess.
Galloway, who hounded Tony Blair in the Commons in the runup to the 2003 war, will be given a major platform again on the issue that has defined his career over the past decade. His presence may also complicate any attempt by Britain to support the US in military action against Iran.