2008 Haltemprice and Howden by-election stood for The New Party. He said "Read my lips: what David Davis is saying is that Britain needs a new party". The Official Monster Raving Loony Party's candidate was Rosalyn Warner, known as Mad Cow-Girl. She stood on an indefinite-detention platform, combined with a quote based on Douglas Adams's "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy": "The answer is 42!!! Now we just need to figure out the real question!!!" On BBC Radio 4, they were reported as saying 'because the sensible parties are acting like lunatics in this election, we have decided to come up with sensible policies'. Later she
2008 Haltemprice and Howden by-election and criticism from politicians, the public and the media, with "The Sun" newspaper initially considering fielding a candidate to oppose Davis in support of anti-terrorism legislation. The Labour party's non-participation stance attracted specific criticism as appearing to be afraid to debate, following recent poor election results and a record low opinion poll result; while Davis attracted criticism as being vain, wasting public money, and for contesting the issue in his safe seat. Davis, the then Shadow Home Secretary, announced his intention to resign on 12 June 2008, a day after a House of Commons vote passed the Counter-Terrorism Bill, which