Labour's Mike Hill quit as an MP today to set up a 'Red Wall' by-election that will be a bellweather for Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer's leaderships.
The Hartlepool MP, 57, resigned his Hartlepool seat after four years following reports that he used taxpayers' money to fight a staff member's claim of unfair dismissal, sexual assault and harassment.
He retained the North East seat in December 2019 with a majority that had more than halved to 3,595 since 2017.
But the Brexit Party's Richard Tice took 10,000 votes at the last election, votes that would have given the Tories victory if they had gone to the Conservatives.