Kelvin MacKenzie of Commons in order to fight a by-election as a protest against the Labour government's plans for 42-day detention without charge for terrorist suspects, MacKenzie announced that he was likely to contest the election on a pro-42-day detention platform, stating: "I have been associated with "The Sun" for 30 years. "The Sun" is very, very hostile to David Davis because of his 28 day stance and "The Sun" has always been very up for 42 days and perhaps even 420 days". Off-camera, before a BBC interview, MacKenzie referred to Hull, which the Haltemprice and Howden constituency borders, as "an absolute
Maidenhead (UK Parliament constituency) Democrat candidate. Notably, the Labour candidate in said election was activist and comedy writer John O'Farrell, whose campaign was the subject of a BBC documentary entitled "Losing My Maidenhead". Due to their strong performance in 2001, the seat was one of several targeted by the Liberal Democrats in 2005 as part of a 'decapitation strategy' to deprive senior Conservatives of their seats; as with similar efforts in Haltemprice and Howden and West Dorset, however, this strategy was unsuccessful, as May retained her seat with almost double her 2001 majority. Since this election, she has held it by majorities of at