Hal 14 Tester

• photo of a Rochester house with flags and a white van outside
• The Conservatives said Mr Reckless's winning margin was "not a big majority" and vowed to win back the seat
• 40,113 votes were cast - a turnout of 50.67%
• UKIP's victory was in many ways even more impressive than their triumph in Clacton. The ease with which they demolished a 9,000 Tory majority was striking and this after the Conservatives had strained every sinew to halt the UKIP bandwagon.
  UKIP now insists no Tory seat is safe and has suggested other Conservative MPs are more likely to defect.
  
  For the Tories the result was not perhaps the meltdown they had feared and certainly there is no indication so far of panic or calls for Mr Cameron to go.
  Senior Tories also believe they are poised to win back this seat at the general election.
  For Labour not only was their share of the vote almost halved but there was also despair at the damaging tweet by their former shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry, seemingly mocking "white van man".
  As for the Lib Dems, not only were they again overhauled by the Greens, but they secured a derisory 349 votes - their lowest total ever.