What can we expect from the by-elections in Wakefield and Tiverton?

Even before dates have been set for voting, there have been some suprising twists, writes Sean O’Grady

Keir Starmer and Boris Johnson: both will want to make the best of the upcoming by-elections (PA)

Even before dates have been set for the by-elections in Wakefield and in the Tiverton and Honiton constituency there have been some surprising events of note. The business of democracy should be serious and sombre, and open to public scrutiny, and by-elections have the great advantage, from the point of view of transparency, of being unusual and attracting sometimes disproportionate media interest.

In a twist even by by-election standards, it seems the now former Conservative MP Neil Parish is thinking about the possibility of re-standing, this time as an independent. He had the Conservative whip withdrawn after he was reported for watching pornographic videos on his smartphone, in the very chamber of the House of Commons. Parish soon left the scene of his “moment of madness”.

Now, the farmer seems to have second thoughts, and he may be set for an attempted comeback. Speaking, appropriately, to The Daily Telegraph’s Chopper’s podcast, Mr Parish, first elected to the Devon seat in 2010, said it was “an option” for him to stand as an independent in the by-election – expected before the summer recess.