I was talking to some Labour people who work in parliament the other day. They were young David Miliband supporters - but not members of his staff in any way - who really dislike Ken Livingstone, and want him to lose the election.

"Not just lose," one told me, "But get an absolute kicking."

Oh Imagine the responses if Galloway wins.

This morning it’s a cold new world. But as the shock passes and the harsh reality of George Galloway’s crushing victory begins to sink in, the questions will become louder and more insistent. Two in particular will dominate: How could this happen? And what does it mean for the leader?

The party briefers will try to box this result as a freak. They will cite the combined effect of the swing from Labour towards Respect among the British Pakistani community and the collapse in Tory vote as a localised one-off.

They will be wrong.

The vote demonstrates two critical points: first, hell will freeze over before large numbers of Tories switch to Labour. After the week the Tories have had, it’s not surprising their vote was down. But Labour picked up no Conservative switchers and remains toxic to swing voters.

And some commentators are postulating Tory tactical voting...

This morning the Labour Party is no longer fighting to win the next election. It’s fighting to stay in existence.

There are some people in the Labour movement who have been warning for some time of the looming threat on Labour’s Left flank. They – sorry, we – have also argued repeatedly that Labour’s small opinion-poll leads and previous by–election victories masked a growing political and structural vacuum at the centre of the party, one that the movements more militant elements were preparing to fill. We were dismissed as scaremongers, Blairite throwbacks, bitter disciples of our lost leader David Miliband.

Well, we may be all those things. But we weren’t wrong. The hard Left has filled the void all right. With a vengeance.

Yet a single defeat in Bradford has led to some of the more hysterical members of the political blogosphere - yes, I'm looking at you Dan Hodges - saying things like "the Labour Party is no longer fighting to win the next election. It's fighting to stay in existence." Um. Ok. Last time I checked, the Labour Party had a double-digit lead in the opinion polls, the Tory-led coalition was presiding over a double-dip recession and psephologists were pointing out how Cameron needed a 7.4 per cent lead over Labour at the next election just to secure a single-seat majority in the Commons.