Winners include Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and older voters. Losers include the prime minister, Jeremy Corbyn and pollsters.

Winner: Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage has the victory he's dedicated his entire political career to: securing the UK's exit from the European Union. A man who has stood for parliament seven times without ever getting elected has become arguably Britain's most successful politician in a generation.

Farage, who has led UKIP for most of the last decade, has seen his party rise to around 13% of the national vote, and despite conceding the referendum result early in the evening, un-conceding, re-conceding and un-conceding again, has found himself on the winning side of the vote.

Expect Farage to be a vocal contributor from the sidelines of the UK's exit negotiations – if the UK looks likely to make concessions such as joining the EEC (Europe's free trade area) without major exceptions to its usual rules, he'll publicly cry betrayal. Farage wants a full Brexit vote, with full freedom from EU rules. Anything less than that and we'll hear about it.

One ironic turn to Farage's day of glory: he's voted himself out of a job. Farage is a sitting member of the European Parliament – and Britain will lose its MEPs once it leaves Europe.

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Loser: David Cameron

This is not the political legacy David Cameron wanted. The prime minister conceded a referendum to help keep control of his Eurosceptic backbench MPs, confident that it would be unlikely to happen if he was in a coalition government, and confident even if the vote did occur he could easily win it.

He lost.

Cameron will come under substantial pressure to resign as prime minister in the next few days (or even hours), but even if he clings on for a time, he will be remembered as the prime minister who led his country out of Europe, against his will. Furthermore, if the exit vote causes even a fraction of the economic damage Cameron warned it would, Brexit could simultaneously destroy Cameron's legacy of restoring Britain's economy after the financial crisis.

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Winner: Michael Gove

Michael Gove, the justice secretary, was a surprise supporter of Leave as he has always been a close political ally (and friend) of David Cameron, but opted to place his support for the Brexit cause ahead of his personal loyalty to the prime minister.

Gove has been seen to have had a good campaign, and is seen as a likely kingmaker in the Conservative party – he will have a huge say in choosing the next Conservative leader, assuming he doesn't run for the role himself.

Gove is also very likely to be one of the key members of Britain's team negotiating how the country leaves the EU.

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Loser: George Osborne

George Osborne, the chancellor of the exchequer, was one of the Remain campaign's chief architects and champions. He turned the full resources of the Treasury towards producing material to support Remain's case, and was one of the campaign's most prominent spokesmen.

When the result looked close a week before the result, Osborne essentially threw away his chances of becoming the next party leader by issuing an "emergency budget" for a post-Brexit Britain, packed with unpopular tax rises and cuts to health and education.

Now Britain has voted to leave, Osborne's political prospects look dim – his remaining time in the Treasury could be very brief indeed.

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