2008 Haltemprice and Howden by-election that if elected he would refuse to take the oath of allegiance to the Queen in order to take up his seat. He opted to declare neither a party affiliation nor "Independent", so appeared on the ballot paper with no party label. Icke told the VoteWise website he had "no politics", and David Davis had a "lot he doesn't yet see". Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, announced that his party would not field a candidate in the by-election as the issue of civil liberties transcended party politics and the Liberal Democrats supported Davis's position on the issue,
Sunderland (UK Parliament constituency) Sunderland (UK Parliament constituency) Sunderland was a borough constituency of the House of Commons, created by the Reform Act 1832 for the 1832 general election. It elected two Members of Parliament (MP) by the bloc vote system of election until it was split into single-member seats of Sunderland North and Sunderland South for the 1950 general election. Thompson resigned by accepting the office of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds in order to contest a by-election at Westmorland, causing a by-election. Grey succeeded to the peerage, becoming 3rd Earl Grey and causing a by-election. Barclay resigned by accepting the office of