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Guide: The Haltemprice hopefuls
A record 26 candidates are standing in the Haltemprice and Howden by-election on 10 July. Here is what we know so far about them.
GRACE ASTLEY, INDEPENDENT
Ms Astley is a supply teacher angry at the way school tests in England are handled.
DAVID BISHOP, CHURCH OF THE MILITANT ELVIS PARTY
Self-styled as "Lord Biro", Mr Bishop wants to overthrow the capitalist state, which he blames for turning the singer Elvis Presley into a "fat media joke". He thinks US President George W Bush is the anti-Christ who will trigger Armageddon. Other policies include imprisoning Cherie Blair to stop her reporting details of her sex life and placing CCTV cameras in Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg's bedroom.
RONNIE CARROLL, MAKE POLITICIANS HISTORY
The two-times representative of Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest is calling - as his description suggests - for a future free of politicians. Mr Carroll, whose 1960s hits include Roses are Red and Say Wonderful Things, is conducting his campaign from his home in Hampstead, north London.
MAD COW-GIRL, OFFICIAL MONSTER RAVING LOONY PARTY
Mad Cow-Girl, whose real name is Rosalyn Warner, is a registered nurse who contested the Sunderland South seat in 2001 and 2005. She is standing on a policy of supporting pre-charge detentions of up to 42 days for terror suspects, saying: "I may be a loony but I'm not mad enough to want dangerous people walking free in the name of political correctness."
DAVID CRAIG, INDEPENDENT
Mr Craig is standing on a platform of cutting public sector waste. He wants MPs to be paid less and is offering to give away half his salary to charity if elected to Westminster.
HERBERT CROSSMAN, INDEPENDENT
Mr Crossman, who lives in Harrow, Middlesex, says he is campaigning over the "important things in life". Rather than focusing on issues of individual liberty, he is concentrating on the credit crunch, standards of living and petrol prices.
TESS CULNANE, NATIONAL FRONT
Ms Culnane is promising to "broaden the focus" of the by-election away from the issue of detention periods for terror suspects. She says other reasons for the terrorist threat must be addressed, including the war in Iraq and "mass immigration" since the end of the Second World War.
THOMAS DARWOOD, INDEPENDENT
Mr Darwood, from Thorpe Bay, Essex, is a campaigner for Christian issues.
DAVID DAVIS, CONSERVATIVES
The former Conservative shadow home secretary resigned his seat last month and is re-contesting it in opposition to what he calls the government's erosion of liberties. Plans to extend pre-charge detentions for terror suspects to up to 42 days and to increase the size of the DNA database are particular targets for his campaign.
TONY FARNON, INDEPENDENT
Mr Farnon lives in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
EAMONN FITZPATRICK, INDEPENDENT
The former market trader says that, unlike David Davis, he supports the government's plans to extend maximum pre-charge detentions for terror suspects to 42 days. He stood for Northampton South at the last general election.
CHRISTOPHER FOREN, INDEPENDENT
Mr Foren, formerly a Crown prosecutor in Leeds, is campaigning to preserve Britain's environment, by reducing building on greenfield sites, extending roads and expanding airports. He also promises to tackle economic inequality, introduce proportional representation at Westminster and sustaining the UK's population level by allowing only as many people to come to the country as the number who leave it.
GEMMA GARRETT, MISS GREAT BRITAIN PARTY
Ms Garrett, currently Miss Great Britain, has become something of a regular at recent by-elections. Pledging to make politics "sexy and not sleazy" and Westminster "less dowdy and downtrodden", the beauty queen from Belfast came last in May's contest in Crewe and Nantwich.
GEORGE HARGREAVES, CHRISTIAN PARTY
An evangelical, Mr Hargreaves' main concern is with the European Union, which he says will "imprison the whole nation for 42 years or more". He is calling for the UK to have a referendum on the EU Treaty, as happened recently in Ireland.
HAMISH HOWITT, FREEDOM 4 CHOICE
Mr Howitt, a Blackpool pub landlord, opposes the smoking ban for public places, which came into force last year. His platform is that bar owners should be free to choose whether to allow customers to light up on their premises. Mr Howitt was the first landlord in England to be prosecuted for defying the ban.
DAVID ICKE, INDEPENDENT
The former professional footballer and TV sports presenter admits he does not have "any chance of winning" the by-election. He says David Davis's decision to call a contest on the subject of "Big Brother" is "far bigger than even he realises and unless we see the big picture of what is going on nothing effective can be done to stop it".
JOHN NICHOLSON, INDEPENDENT
Mr Nicholson, a former farmer, is running as an educational reformer. He advocates every child in the country being provided with an abacus, which he has developed, to improve their method of learning mathematics. Mr Nicholson is also campaigning for a better system of justice.
SHAN OAKES, GREEN PARTY
Former English teacher Ms Oakes is calling for a wider "civil liberties" programme than she says is being promoted by David Davis. In particular, she has criticised his support for the current maximum period of 28 days for detaining terror suspects without charge.
DAVID PINDER, THE NEW PARTY
Mr Pinder wants to "roll back the state and return to traditional British values". His policies include reducing personal taxation, deregulating business, allowing people more choice in healthcare and education and "reducing the power of the EU over our lives".
JOANNE ROBINSON, ENGLISH DEMOCRATS
A former civil servant with a qualification in dog behaviour, Mrs Robinson is campaigning on her party's main position of demanding a separate English parliament and prime minister. She is also calling for an end to "uncontrolled mass immigration".
JILL SAWARD, INDEPENDENT
Ms Saward was raped at her home, a vicarage in Ealing, west London, in 1986 and waived her anonymity to campaign for the victims of sex attacks. She opposes David Davis's views, particularly his opposition to extending the DNA database. Ms Saward has said: "Mr Davis thinks that by forcing a by-election he is standing up for British justice. In reality he is attempting to strike a hammer blow through the very tools the police need to keep us safe."
NORMAN SCARTH, INDEPENDENT
Now an independent, Mr Scarth ran in the Sedgefield by-election last year - which followed the resignation of Tony Blair - as the Anti-Crime Party candidate. He is described as a civil rights campaigner.
WALTER SWEENEY, INDEPENDENT
A solicitor and former Conservative MP for the Vale of Glamorgan, Mr Sweeney sits on the council of the libertarian Freedom Association.
CHRISTOPHER TALBOT, SOCIALIST EQUALITY PARTY
Mr Talbot says he is standing partly because Labour failed to put forward a candidate. He accuses the government of effectively setting up a "police state". He promises to be the "spearhead of a broader political defence of the class interests of working people in Britain and internationally against militarism, social inequality and the profit system".
JOHN UPEX, INDEPENDENT
Mr Upex, the managing director of an electrical engineering business and an anti-EU campaigner, was a candidate for the UK Independence Party in Wakefield in the 2005 general election.
GREG WOOD, INDEPENDENT
Mr Wood lives in Bedale, North Yorkshire
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