Jane Collins by the resignation of Labour MP Eric Illsley over the UK parliamentary expenses scandal. She came second to Labour's Dan Jarvis, winning 12% of the vote. She again stood for UKIP in the November 2012 Rotherham by-election triggered by the resignation of Labour MP Denis MacShane, also over the expenses scandal. She came second to Labour's Sarah Champion, winning almost 22% of the vote, at that time UKIP's best result in a by-election. During the by-election campaign a row emerged after Rotherham's Labour council removed three foster children from the care of their foster parents, which the "Daily Telegraph" wrongly
United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal were published over an extended period of time, with the focus moving to different MPs daily. As a result, there was significant pressure on MPs who did not know whether, and for what, they would be discussed, as well as a general deepening hostility that grew over a relatively long period. On 22 May 2009 Nadine Dorries, the Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire went on record in saying that many of her colleagues "feared a suicide" and that MPs were "beginning to crack". She likened the atmosphere in Westminster to that surrounding Senator Joseph McCarthy's "witch hunts" of suspected Communists