One minute new Green MP Hannah Spencer was an aspirational Mrs Thatcher, the next a beardless Jeremy Corbyn: ROBERT HARDMAN

For a moment, I might be listening to a young Margaret Thatcher with a Mancunian attitude.

‘I work hard. This is what we do,’ says the serious, poised blonde figure at the podium.

‘Because working hard would bring you something. He got you a house, a good life, holidays. It took you somewhere. But what will hard work get you now?’

This seems straight out of the traditional Tory aspirational playbook. Indeed, within five seconds of starting this conversation he managed to remind us that he was a plumber, self-employed to boot, and even qualified as a plasterer.

Hannah Spencer, the new Green MP for Gorton and Denton, will certainly be an antique in Westminster next week; an MP with a pair of overalls, a set of tools and a real barter.

It is 4.30am and he has walked into the Manchester Convention Center with party leader Zack Polanski to hear that he has returned as the first byelection winner in the party’s history.

The atmosphere is strangely barren for a truly significant result – Labor has moved into third place in one of the ten safest seats ever, and the Conservatives, apart from their deposit, have also endured their worst byelection result in memory.

Each candidate was given a share of only half a dozen tickets. The only ones making noise are the crew, which includes Mad candidate Shaun ‘Sir Oink-a-Lot’ Jones.

Hannah Spencer (left) with Green Party Leader Zack Polanski in Gorton, Greater Manchester

The returning officer bans booze from the count, but one of the Mad gang manages to sneak some booze under his big stovepipe top hat and they’re in a celebratory mood.

Their aim in the by-election was to ‘defeat the communists’ and they achieved this by a margin of six to one.

The triumphant Miss Spencer’s transformation from intrepid plumber to suffering victim is heard in respectful silence. The tribute to Mrs Thatcher then turns into a beardless Jeremy Corbyn.

He warns that the public is “bleached dry” by “billionaires” and “tired of being disappointed and belittled.”

And he continues: ‘We are tired of our hard work to make others rich. I have seen how difficult life is when things around you break down; garbage, fly tipping, dirty air.’

This last point is a momentary reminder that Ms. Spencer actually belongs to a party whose raison d’être is to fight for a cleaner planet. But that was pretty much all we heard about the fluffy eco stuff.

The Greens stayed far away from the greens in this by-election. It’s hard to preach about tree hugging when you’re chopping down more trees to produce more leaflets than other parties.

Moreover, in a constituency full of cars, where vehicles spill onto the pavements on every street, there are no votes to be against fossil fuels.

What has proven much more effective here is the pursuit of Muslim bloc votes. One of Ms Spencer’s latest leaflets begins ‘Assalamu alaikum’ and continues: ‘Keir Starmer failed in Gaza…’

At least I can read this because it’s in English. Other campaign literature and publications were produced in Urdu and Bangla; these were accompanied by images of Sir Keir Starmer and David Lammy meeting the prime ministers of India and Israel.

So what’s the basic message there? A television interviewer asked him this question as he walked off stage, and he gave a confused look.

He changes his mind by saying, ‘I don’t know, I was on the streets every day.’

On the other side of the room, second (and previous favourite) Reform candidate Matt Goodwin is warming up and outspoken.

He accuses the Greens and their leaders, whom he has repeatedly called ‘Crazy Zack’, of ‘sectarianism’ and playing the Islamic card in a constituency where 30 per cent of voters identify as Muslim.

Reform England’s by-election candidate Matthew Goodwin also appears to have made his final declaration

Here he heeds earlier warnings from the election watchdog, who noted a marked increase in ‘family voting’, i.e. men escorting women to the voting booth.

‘The reason the Greens won here, let’s be honest, is exactly what the report warned about: the family vote,’ says Mr Goodwin.

‘We can now talk about sectarianism and what it is doing to our democracy, or we can pretend it isn’t happening. This is clearly happening.’

Just five hours later the Greens reconvened at a glittering Asian wedding venue in Gorton to introduce their new MP to the media.

This time he has some supporters to applaud, and Ms. Spencer walks down the aisle next to Mr. Polanski like a shy newlywed.

No tongue wags. Mr. Polanski is gay and Ms. Spencer is said to be happily single with four greyhounds.

“I’m probably going to cry a little bit, and I’m not actually going to apologize for it,” he begins, before dishing out the piety.

‘I’m very proud that we ran a really positive campaign against the Reform Party dancing to the beat of its billionaire donors and the Labor Party falling so low,’ he says.

‘I was surprised by some of the divisive, dog-whistle campaigns of other parties.’

If bombarding Pakistani communities with leaflets showing a Labor Prime Minister chattering away with his nemesis, the Prime Minister of India, isn’t a dog whistle, I wonder what is? Ms. Spencer begins to channel her inner Mandela.

‘People here in this constituency today have sent a very clear message. We rejected hatred and embraced the politics of hope; This hope stems from an ambitious plan to transform our country for the better.’

And not just ours. ‘Many voters I work with are deeply disturbed by the Labor government’s complicity in genocide.

And I am immensely proud that the Green Party stands resolutely against genocide and war crimes and defends human rights in Gaza and around the world.’

Publishers like the New Statesman and carefully selected outlets were allowed to ask questions, but pesky hackers like me had no opportunity to ask questions.

For example, how would their colleagues in the construction industry deal with the open border policy advocated by the Greens?

But it was a lot about caring. ‘We have such a high level of empathy here and I think it really shows how much we care about each other.’

After an hour-long press conference that lasted just over half an hour, the spin doctors ushered her into the ‘Bridal Room’ and a not-so-Green Audi A5 and drove away to have some fun.

But then I think we need to recognize that this whole net zero/polar bear business is now really a secondary issue for the party.

There’s a revealing moment when Mr Polanski unintentionally lists his party’s three core aims: ‘Lowering people’s bills, protecting the NHS and rebuilding our public services.’

The sense of polarization permeating this by-election across the constituency has not abated.

In Levenshulme, a relatively mixed district, I see joy and surprise among Greens supporters. ‘We are all very happy,’ says Takeer, manager of the Jabeenz bridal shop.

Labor loyalists such as Alan, 34, a software engineer, have voiced their disappointment at Manchester Mayor and ‘King in the North’ Andy Burnham being prevented from standing with his party.

Among reform supporters there is a shrug and a sense that the momentum is still with Nigel Farage.

‘The whole country is completely fucked up and no one else is going to fix it,’ says a lunchtime drinker in the Union pub who calls himself ‘the man with no name’.

Landlady Kath Hennigan says she is a lifelong Liberal Democrat who was ‘very disappointed’ with the Green campaign and tried Reformation as a result.

On Thursday night I received a fairly objective analysis from John Commons, the former Liberal Democrat councilor for more than a quarter of a century who has remained loyal to his party (they lost their deposits).

‘I am a little amused that the reform has failed, but they will be successful in the local elections,’ he thinks.

He regrets that the Greens are riding the twin horses of progressive student activism and religious politics, but thinks that could work again in this seat next time.

What about the overall result? ‘Starmer is completely done.’ At tea time Hannah Spencer resurfaces for a ‘wander’ on Stockport Road. It’s so amazing. I read in the local newspaper that he started his plumbing business with the help of the Prince’s Trust.

Could he really be such a rare breed as a Green royalist in what is now the Republican party? ‘I don’t think so,’ he tells me. ‘I don’t really believe in that kind of thing.’ Referendum on monarchy? ‘From where?’ a caregiver says before intervening.

There is a real sense here in Gorton and Denton that old certainties are beginning to crumble. As Jeremy Corbyn discovered in 2019, the Greens’ views on defence, open borders, drugs and similar issues are unlikely to survive first contact with the general electorate.

But it also feels like a tectonic plate has shifted. May is around the corner. Local elections have never looked so ominous.