To say that most folk are a bit surprised to wake up and discover that the SNP have actually pulled off their 'political earthquake' would be a bit of an understatement to say the least.

Even if the SNP only scraped through by the skin of their teeth, it still represents a massive swing away from Labour. Personally, I have mixed feelings. I'm pleased to see that the voters of the East end of Glasgow have finally dispelled the quip, much quoted in the run up to the byelection, that they'd vote for a monkey if it were wearing a red rosette. It will certainly change the rules of the game, and puts more pressure on Scottish Labour to come up with a new narrative if they want to have a hope of making a come back. Let's face it - if rumours about the previous MP's use of Westminster allowances are true, Labour deserve everything they got.

This said, John Mason is just another performing  monkey. To describe his victory speech as 'wooden' is unfair to trees. I'm sure Alex Salmond will be delighted to have more lobby fodder at his beck and call  in Westminster. He certainly needn't fear any challenges for the limelight from John Mason. For that reason, I suspect John Mason will be more interested in towing his party line rather than fighting for the people of Glasgow East  -  everyone thinks he owes his victory to the high profile support he got from Alex Salmond - I wonder if he thinks that too?

What will it mean for Labour? Heaven knows how Brown will weather this one. It looks as though the slow, painful implosion of the Scottish Labour party is going to spread south. As long as all their policy moves are interpreted in terms of a 'New Labour'/ 'Old Labour' dichotomy it seems there's nowhere they can go. People are tired of new Labour rhetoric, so every attempt at renewal almost seems almost kitsch - like an episode of 'back to the future'.  For some reason, when Labour announce policy initiatives, it somehow feels like you've heard them before. Even when they're pretty radical changes.

Now that the Tories have tightened up. modernised their message, and got wise to the tired New Labour strategy of forcing them further to the right - Labour look anachronistic to everyone. To  regain their moral authority Labour will have to find a way of convincing their core vote they are serous about social justice, and not just paying lip service to the idea when they need to win, what now must be called, "former" Labour heartlands. The question is can Gordon Brown do that?

It is ironic that there was talk on the Today programme this morning about bringing back some of the Blair era 'heavy weights.' That's the last thing Labour needs. However, I'm not saying they should take my advice without some careful thought - afterall my predictions for this byelection were completely wrong.