Janan Ganesh, writing in the Financial Times,, external says the Conservative party benches are "peppered with cranks, zealots and the flamboyantly disloyal".

As for Labour, he says the cultural gap between its "working class voters and its London-based doyens is not new. But it has become unbridgeable under Ed Miliband's leadership".

Adam Watson in Leeds tweets, external: If we'd had a by-election in a major city, Scotland or a university seat, #UKIP would've done nothing. Remember that! #RochesterandStrood

Naushabah Khan, Labour's by-election candidate, says she is "disappointed" by the result but proud of the "very positive" campaign that was run.

She adds: "I was selected here a year ago to fight an election in May 2015 and that's what I intend to do. I'm going to be out next year and I'm going to take from this election the things that I've learnt, the stories that I've heard from people, and they're the issues I'm going to continue to fight for."

Image source, AP

Here's UKIP leader Nigel Farage with his party's newest MP, Mark Reckless, taken while the counting of votes was still under way. The declaration eventually came at 04:15 GMT.

The Daily Telegraph's Tim Stanley, external has some advice for political parties going into future battles. "To beat UKIP and retake command of the national political narrative, the mainstream parties have to reconnect with the people and to demonstrate that they share their concerns, are being honest about the problems ahead, and have faith in the common sense of ordinary people."

Sarah Wollaston, MP for Totnes, Brixham and the South Hams

tweets, external: Tories have lessons to learn from the #RochesterandStrood campaign, but that must not include a lurch to right or a vile scapegoating agenda

Mr Farage adds: "Personally, I would love people to join us and force by-elections. I would love these by-elections to go on forever. The last three months have been enormous fun."

Labour MP John Mann says Emily Thornberry's tweet, external, showing a picture of a house in Rochester with England flags and a white van outside, was offensive.

"It was horrendous, it insults people like me. It insults the people I know, my friends and family, Labour voters across the country. Because white vans, England flags, they're Labour values and actually pretty routine Labour values for most of us."

"Who can say how UKIP will do in the general election?" asks Nigel Farage. But he adds there will be "Members of Parliament who work out that actually, they've got a better chance of standing as UKIP. If they join us, I'll be delighted. If they don't, frankly it doesn't matter".

Emma Appletonno in Wigan tweets, external: surprise we won #rochesterbyelection. Being asked to throw their hard earned money at EU sinking ship prob turned a lot of torys UKIP!

Nigel Farage, speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, says he would "ignore every one of the political commentators" and predicts "there will be a lot of sucking of teeth" over the coming weeks.

The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson says in a blog post that UKIP has "certainly shown it can defeat everything the Conservative party machine can throw at it - money, manpower, five campaign visits by a prime minister and, yes, even that kitchen sink David Cameron promised to throw in too".

UKIP leader Nigel Farage tells the BBC that the result of the next general election has been "thrown up in the air".

"Things are changing out there very, very quickly," he says.

The Conservative party's William Hague says UKIP's margin of victory was less than half what the party and polls were predicting.

"We will work every single day between now and the general election to make sure we win this seat back at the general election, because we're not going to let UKIP let Ed Miliband sneak into Downing Street by the back door. And that is clearly the danger here".

BBC Radio 5 live spoke to voters in Rochester while polling was open, with one resident describing UKIP leader Nigel Farage as a "saint". You can hear their views here.

Oliver Cooper in London tweets, external: No major party has ever won less than 1% of the vote in a parliamentary by-election. Until the Lib Dems in #RochesterAndStrood.

YouGov president Peter Kellner tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme it is too early to say what will happen at the general election next May.

He says: "I don't think that Mark Reckless's cushion is big enough either for him here in Rochester next May, or for other Conservative MPs who are thinking of defecting."

Leader of the House of Commons William Hague tells BBC Breakfast that people are concerned about immigration and the European Union and commonly express their anger in by-elections.

"It's very unusual, actually, for the Conservatives in government to win a by-election," he says. "That's only happened once in the last 25 years, even though we've won many general elections."

Tom Mludzinski, head of political polling at ComRes, tells BBC Radio 5 live Breakfast's Nicky Campbell: "It certainly does show that UKIP are on a march. It carries on the momentum they have been building.

"Many people, including myself, have predicted that at some point they will have peaked over the last few years, perhaps at local elections or European elections, and yet they keep on going. They are taking the fight to all sides."

Jack Roach in Kent tweets, external: So @UKIP have won the #RochesterandStrood by-election. Now, I wonder if Reckless will actually do something to help his constituents.