"The hero of the election" - Private Eye editor Ian Hislop on satirical TV show Have I Got News for You.

"If Tony Blair is serious about improving the NHS he should appoint as Health Secretary Dr Richard Taylor.

"It would make a change to have a Government department run by someone who actually knows what he's talking about." - Richard Littlejohn, The Sun.

"Dr Taylor's victory was emblematic. In the same way that the anti-party win of 1997, Martin Bell's election in Tatton, was a vote against sleaze, this was a vote against spin." - The Independent.

"He represents a deeply embarrassing riposte to Labour's claim to be the party of the NHS. He is the fly in Tony Blair's champagne. Whether he saves his old workplace or not, he will have fuelled the aspirations of ordinary people everywhere for whom politics start at home." - Robert Hardman, Daily Mail.

"The only excitement on a dreary election night was Richard Taylor's win in Wyre Forest. Worcester women and Mondeo men left their pebble-dashed houses to vote for the former consultant from Kidderminster Hospital because of the damage the wildly imprudent costs of allowing the private sector to run hospitals inflicted on Middle England.

"Taylor was returned as the only independent in the new parliament because the electors couldn't understand whey they should vote for their New Labour MP when his party had ruined a modern hospital to feed the demands for profits from the consortium which controlled the Worcester infirmary." - Nick Cohen, The Observer.

"When candidates did emerge willing to champion what were considered to be real issues, turnout was higher and debate greater.

"Martin Bell may not have won second time round but turnout was well above average. Dr Richard Taylor crushed junior minister David Lock at a contest which enjoyed a turnout of 68 per cent.

"But these were sadly the exceptions. On the whole, Thursday was a reminder of what politics has become and marks the real crisis of British democracy, a crisis that will not easily be fixed.

"Because at its heart lies the fundamental problem with mainstream party politics - that the parties have become so similar that any one who disagrees with their fundamental tenets is necessarily left out." - The Observer.

"Cannily he used his acceptance speech to remind voters that he had never promised to restore the hospital's former glory but to fight tooth and nail on their behalf. Perhaps he senses already he can win nothing more from Labour after unseating David Lock." - The Times.

"He foresees that after Kidderminster and another protest over the siting of a waste incinerator in the area, he will have to tackle the broader issues of being an MP, although many are mirrored in his own microcosm.

"If Taylor is successful it will be a warning to the Blair-rite foot soldiers who tried to spin him out of Wyre Forest at every turn." -- The Times.

"Dr Richard Taylor's astonishing election as an Independent MP shows the strength of the passions aroused by our failing National Health Service . Where the doctor leads, others may follow. The Prime Minister and Chancellor have committed themselves to improving the NHS and this must be their overriding objective in the Government's second term." - The Sunday Times.

"Dr Taylor's political stock has risen beyond all predictions. But for the constituents of Wyre Forest the real test lies ahead when 'people power' comes face to face with Westminster." - The Daily Telegraph.

"The resounding victory of the single-issue candidate Dr Richard Taylor demonstrates both the intensity of public feelings over the future of the NHS and also the depth of public scepticism about the genuine commitment to reform of the conventional political parties." - The Guardian.

"It is disappointing Alan Milburn remains at Health. The staggering victory of Dr Richard Taylor attests to the depth of disillusionment with New Labour's performance over the NHS. Yet Milburn has had little impact." - The Mail on Sunday.