Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron says Sarah Olney has "rolled up her sleeves" after being elected as the member of parliament for Richmond Park.

Only hours after being elected as the Liberal Democrats' newest MP Sarah Olney walked out of a live radio interview after being given a grilling over her position on Brexit. 

She disappeared off air just three minutes into the Talk Radio broadcast. 

The premature exit came after questioning by presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer on her calls for a referendum on the terms of Britain's exit from the European Union.

She said: "Voters knew what they were voting for in your by-election, they knew what they were voting for in the EU referendum. Why do we think that one election should be re-run and one shouldn't?" 

Ms Olney said the terms of Brexit had not been clear during the referendum and it had been a vote on the departure rather than the destination. "There was no clear manifesto for what happened to our membership of the single market or what happened to freedom of movement," she said. 

Ms Hartley-Brewer replied: "Every single leading member of the Remain campaign said a vote to leave the EU was a vote to leave the single market. Nothing unclear about that at all."

Ms Olney then left the interview. 

The Lib Dems cause a major upset in the Richmond Park by-election, overturning ex-Tory MP Zac Goldsmith's 23,015 majority.

BBC Wales Politics

The Liberal Democrat victory in the Richmond Park by-election is a "wake up call" for UK ministers and politicians, the party's Welsh leader has said.

Liberal Democrat Sarah Olney ousted ex-Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith after campaigning on the issue of Brexit.

Welsh Lib Dem leader Mark Williams said voters were saying they did not want a so called "hard Brexit".

The Conservatives have said the result "doesn't change anything" and ministers remain committed to leaving the EU.

Mr Goldsmith resigned his seat and stood as an independent in the southwest London constituency after the government backed a third Heathrow runway.

Tom Bateman
Political Correspondent, Millbank

Image source, Reuters

Downing Street has said the result of the Richmond Park by-election is a matter for the area's constituents and the government is getting on with the job of "making a success" of Brexit. 

Pressed repeatedly about what message Theresa May drew from the poll, the Prime Minister's official spokesman referred instead to the EU referendum result saying it had sent a "very clear message". 

He said: "There's been a by-election in Richmond, we've had the results. That is a matter for the constituents of Richmond. 

"The British people sent a very clear message on June 23rd for Britain to leave the EU. 

"The government is now getting on with the job of delivering on those wishes and making a success of it." 

Asked if the Prime Minister took a message about the type of Brexit she should pursue, the spokesman said the government's position on Brexit was clear. 

He said: "We are committed to leaving the European Union and we will trigger by the end of March next year. We will then get on with the process." 

Asked about whether a second referendum was possible, he said it was not. 

He said comments by the European Parliament negotiator Guy Verhofstadt supporting the Lib Dem win were a matter for him.

Esther Webber
BBC News

Despite originally being a Conservative, Mr Goldsmith wasn't always a fan of the party. 

He once famously remarked he would need to drug himself and be drunk before he voted for then Conservative leader William Hague. He didn't stop there, adding he would have to "wash myself afterwards".

He later said he did not remember saying that but did tell the BBC in 2006 that it was not "a million miles" from how he felt, going on to say "if you had asked me six years ago would I want to be part of the Conservative Party I would have said no".

Esther Webber
BBC News

Born Frank Zacharias Robin Goldsmith, he grew up in Richmond, south-west London. 

From a young age he was concerned with the environment. 

His interest was sparked by watching Sir David Attenborough documentaries and at age nine he even built a "budgerigar sanctuary" in his back garden to save unwanted local birds. 

He has been described as "difficult not to fall in love with" by Helena Norberg-Hodge, the outspoken environmentalist and the words "beautiful" and "telegenic" crop up regularly.

Image source, PA

BBC Politics

Image source, Getty Images

Lib Dem Sarah Olney has unseated former Conservative Zac Goldsmith in Richmond Park, with a spectacular by-election victory.

The Lib Dems say it is a victory for those seeking an alternative to "this Conservative Brexit government".

But what does it mean for Brexit, the parties and politics in general?

Here's what politicians and commentators are saying:

The lead EU negotiator on Brexit has tweeted his congratulations to Sarah Olney.

However, former Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith said Mr Verhofstadt should "mind his own bloody business".

Mr Duncan Smith told the Telegraph, external: "The honest truth is these guys are unelected, so how dare an unelected apparatchik comment on an election first and foremost.

"Secondly I assume this means he is prepared to stand by the result of the EU referendum which means that we are leaving, so he should stop moaning and carping and trying to damage this."  

The newly elected Liberal Democrat MP, Sarah Olney, said her win showed that people were unhappy with the prime minister's current approach to Brexit.

She said: "To be honest, I think Theresa May has probably been too influenced by the UKIP end of the political spectrum.

"And I think what this victory yesterday represents is that, you know, she needs to look out for the Liberal Democrats as well, because we are providing now strong opposition on the Remain side of the political debate - and that's winning us votes and it's winning us seats."

Image source, Getty Images

Here's the reaction to the by-election result from some of the residents of Richmond Park, following Sarah Olney's win for the Liberal Democrats.

Mr Rees-Mogg, who campaigned for Zac Goldsmith during the Richmond Park by-election,  dismissed suggestions that  Goldsmith's loss represents a "Brexit backlash." 

Although he agreed that a "straight Brexit analysis" of the result was correct, he said it was simply a case of a "pro-remain seat voting remain just a few months after referendum." 

He said that people in the constituency who voted remain and were defeated back in June were likely to feel "a little sore." 

Mr Rees-Mogg also said he didn't think the result would have any further consequences in the rest of the country. Instead, he said the "backlash" would come if people thought Brexit was being "watered down." 

Mr Rees-Mogg said he believed that Liberal Democrats tended to "over-analyse" by-election results. 

He would be surprised, he said, if this by-election had any impact on the debate over soft versus hard brexit.

He described by-elections like "fireworks" : "they go off with great sparkle and then they lie dead upon the floor."

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Remain supporters in Richmond Park are disgruntled about the majority of the country going against them, Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has said.

Speaking to John Humphrys, Mr Rees-Mogg reacted to Lib Dem Remain campaigner Sarah Olney's victory over ex-Tory MP Zac Goldsmith in the Richmond Park constituency.

Political scientist Professor John Curtice, of Strathclyde University, gave this assessment of what Sarah Olney's win means for the Liberal Democrat party on the News Channel earlier.

"This is certainly a by-election that was held in very propitious circumstances for the Liberal Democrats. It's not just a constituency where probably over 70% of people voted to remain [in the EU] in June but it's also a constituency that consistently from 1979 ... through to 2010 saw the Liberal Democrats get 40% or more of the vote. 

"The truth is, if the Liberal Democrats could have chosen any constituency in the country in which to fight a by-election at the moment, Richmond would almost undoubtedly have been top of the list. 

"That said however, the crucial thing about this result is since 2010 the Liberal Democrats have been unable to turn propitious circumstances like Richmond into by-election successes... What I think we see emerging out of this by-election... at least the Liberal Democrats are beginning to regain the mantle of the protest party of by-elections ... [but] there's still a long way to go."

Image source, PA

The Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has declined to be drawn on what the Richmond Park by-election result means for Brexit, saying only that Zac Goldsmith fought a "heroic and principled" campaign. 

Pressed after his Chatham House speech whether he thought the result was a vote against a "hard" Brexit, he said only he was "sad" that his "great friend" lost the poll.

Mr Johnson - who opposed a new runway at Heathrow as the Conservative MP for Uxbridge - said: "(Zac Goldsmith) was heroic and principled in standing up for what he believed in on Heathrow expansion." 

He added: "He will be missed but he will certainly be back." 

Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas has hailed Sarah Olney's victory.

The party did not field a candidate in the election but instead backed the Lib Dems candidate.

Sarah Olney has just given a press conference in her constituency with Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron and supporters by her side.

She said: "It's the most enormous privilege to have been selected as the MP for Richmond Park . It's obviously unexpected. Eighteen months ago I had no idea I was going to be here but it's just been overwhelming. 

"I want to thank the voters of Richmond Park and I will do my very best to be the best constituency MP that I can."

Asked by the BBC  if she was still going to vote against Article 50, despite the EU Referendum result, she said: "That's the commitment I made in my campaign and my by-election victory means I have a personal mandate from the voters of Richmond Park that that is what they want me to do."

BBC Politics

Image source, Getty Images

A relative newcomer to politics, Sarah Olney said she was compelled to join the Liberal Democrats after the 2015 general election.

In her victory speech, she said: "A year and a half ago I wasn't involved in politics, I wasn't a member of a political party, I had never been involved in a political campaign, I had never thought about being a politician.

"But I knew I was a liberal.

"When I saw what happened in the general election last year I felt I had to get involved."

Ms Olney, who lives in North Kingston with her husband Ben and two children, works as a qualified accountant at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington.