In an unusual Parliamentary by-election where the sitting Tory MP resigned to fight as an independent, where the Tories (wisely) did not dare to stand against their rebel, where UKIP failed to stand at all but the man who bankrolls them supported the maverick ex-Tory candidate, where the Labour Party was eclipsed and lost its deposit, where the Greens strategically supported the Liberal Democrats, the result was a classic barnstorming victory for the Liberal Democrats. The newly elected Liberal Democrat MP, Sarah Olney said in the early hours of this morning, "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.