Haltemprice and Howden (UK Parliament constituency) Conservative David Davis, who had previously been the member for Boothferry; he was re-elected in the 2001, 2005 and 2010 general elections. The area was placed as 10th most affluent in the country in the 2003 Barclays Private Clients survey. On 12 June 2008, a day after a vote on the extension of detention of terror suspects without charge, in an unexpected move, Davis took the Chiltern Hundreds, effectively resigning his seat as the constituency's MP. He stated this was to force a by-election, in which he intended to provoke a wider public debate on the single issue of the
2008 Haltemprice and Howden by-election nuclear weapons, but the 1955 general election overtook events and he lost. At the 1997 general election, neither Labour nor the Liberal Democrats stood against the Conservatives in the seat of Tatton, urging their supporters to back the independent Martin Bell, over the Cash-for-questions affair. Bell defeated Neil Hamilton and won the seat. In both the 2001 and 2005 general elections, the Liberal Democrats did not field a candidate in Wyre Forest, instead supporting the Health Concern candidate Richard Taylor. Polling took place on 10 July 2008. The East Riding of Yorkshire Council announced the accepted candidates on Thursday 26