Hartlepool by-election: Purple powder and angry dogs in 2004 vote
By Francesca Williams
image copyrightPA Media
image captionPaul Watson told a court he threw purple powder over Jody Dunn in the heat of the moment
By-elections can be riotous affairs and Hartlepool s last one in 2004 was no different. The candidates included an ordained doctor who stayed in a tent, a multilingual karate brown-belt barrister who was attacked at the count and a two-time Eurovision Song Contest entrant.
Hartlepool has been Labour for years. Apart from a month in 2019 when MP Mike Hill was briefly suspended from the party, it has been red since 1964.