An offbeat look at the by-election campaign

Bob Geldof, Tony Benn and Martin Bell have all put their weight behind David Davis during the campaign.

But Independent candidate Herbie Crossman says he can beat that by counting Nigerian tribal leader chief Harold Sodipo among his supporters.

“I have known him for a long time and I would say he's a jack of all trades and a master of some of them,” said the chief this week.

For the record, the chief is the leader of the Yoruba tribe in western Nigeria.

Sixties Eurovision crooner Ronnie Carroll is hoping for “nil points” tonight.

Standing for the Make Politicians History party, the 73-year-old singer is asking no one to vote for him after he was sidelined by illness.

“Ronnie wants to get into the record books as the first election candidate to get a zero,” said his agent Rainbow George.

Fresh from his spat with Miss Great Britain over her donation to a local football club, Church Of The Militant Elvis Party candidate Dave Bishop has produced his own Graceland £10 notes to give away to potential voters.

Featuring a portrait of Elvis instead of the Queen, they are not the only dodgy currency doing the rounds on the campaign trail.

Last week, I was presented with a £20 note featuring Tony Blair's mugshot by a David Icke supporter.

Spare a thought for acting returning officer Nigel Pearson, who faces the daunting task of reading out the full result at the end of tonight's count at the Haltemprice Leisure Centre.

He's got to plough through 26 names and 26 different voting figures, while squeezed between 25 (Ronnie Carroll will be absent) candidates.

Going back to his day job running East Riding Council should be a piece of cake by comparison.