Video: David Davis defends decision to call by-election

If it had been a beauty contest, there could only ever have been one winner.

But it was a by-election, an unprecedented referendum on the erosion of our civil liberties, and Miss Great Britain, Gemma Garrett, ended up losing her deposit.

To be fair, she was not the only one. Twenty-three of the 26 candidates at the Haltemprice and Howden by-election also ended up £500 poorer. Ms Garrett came a creditable fifth with 521 votes, almost five times more than she managed at Crewe and Nantwich in May.

After both Labour and the Lib Dems refused to stand against him, Mr Davis, the former Shadow Home Secretary, had always been the only candidate with any chance of victory. He duly received more than 70 per cent of the vote, but had to wait until the early hours while the tellers worked out who had come second.

By the time the declaration came, even the most enthusiastic campaigners were beginning to flag. Miss Great Britain, her jaw aching from a night of being beautiful, eked out one final smile.

Mr Davis had done a good job of avoiding his motley cast of challengers for most of the campaign but there was no hiding place when it came to the declaration. In navy blue business suit and striped tie, the main risk he faced was that would look like the man who failed to read the “fancy dress” part of the invite.

In the end - with the exception of war veteran Norman Scarth who smoked and heckled as Mr Davis took to the microphone to celebrate his victory - all 23 challengers who made it to the count behaved a perfectly parliamentary way. Some even appeared disappointed not to have won.

After Mr Davis and Shan Oakes, the Green Party runner-up, finished their speeches only a handful of the other candidates bothered to address the emptying hall.

The anti-smoking campaigner Tony Farnon celebrated his eight votes with a speech which acknowledged the rapidly exiting TV crews but made no mention of the candidate fighting to lift the smoking ban who got 10 times more votes.

The declaration came at about 3am after a recount requested by third-placed Joanne Robinson of the English Democrats - clearly keen to go down in history as the man who came second to Mr Davis in an unprecedented single issue election.

As it dragged out, the count quickly threatened to become tedious, to be brightened only by the arrival of Ms Garrett and her entourage of beauty queens.

Even some of the local Tories joined the queue to have their photos taken with the model, who had led a vigorous campaign for better treatment for soldiers and working mums but had angered some of her rivals by donating £1,000 to a local football team.

No other candidate - even Elvis and the Monster Raving Loony - managed two outfit changes before midnight.

After the declaration Miss Garrett said she was “delighted” with her fifth place, although her supporters said that her political career may have to go on hold for a while as she is making a spy film this summer.

The Rev George Hargreaves, from the Christian Party, was one of many to pass the hours with a chat with Miss Garrett.

Mr Hargreaves really wanted to talk to everyone about his Christianity but, inevitably, most people wanted to hear how he penned the 1986 hit So Macho, for Sinitta. He did not seem to mind.

For many of the minnows at the count there was a camaraderie born out of a mutual recognition that they were destined to lose their £500 deposits. They congratulated each other on their mini-campaigns and swapped stories of life on the doorsteps of East Yorkshire.

Some even watched the tellers avidly, making sure none of their tiny handful of votes were missed. There was an atmosphere like summer camp for the fringe hopefuls who had found friendship on the stump and a shared loathing of Mr Davis and what they saw as his refusal to let them play in his game.

One, independent David Craig, said: “I’ve just enjoyed being here and meeting all the others. There’s been a good atmosphere and we’ve all got along so well.”

Grace Astley, a supply teacher also standing as an independent. said: “I’ve really enjoyed myself. It would have been nice if David Davis had talked to us and let us debate with him but I just really like getting on with all the other candidates.”

Ms Astley literally jumped for joy at one point in the evening when another candidate - sex crime victim campaigner Jill Saward - told her she seen one ballot paper with a cross against her name.

“That’s brilliant,” she said. “It’s made my night”.

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