a candidate standing both for parliament and a seat on the local council after some of the postal votes had been received, the elections in this constituency were postponed until 23 June 2005. Sir Patrick Cormack (Conservative), the incumbent Member of Parliament, retained his seat with an increased majority. By-elections 2005 14 July: Cheadle — Mark Hunter (Lib Dem), to replace Patsy Calton (Lib Dem) who died on 29 May. 29 September: Livingston — Jim Devine (Lab), to replace Robin Cook (Lab) who died on 6 August. 2006 9 February: Dunfermline and West Fife — Willie Rennie (Lib Dem), to replace Rachel Squire (Lab), who died on 5 January. 29 June: Blaenau Gwent — Dai Davies (Ind), to replace Peter Law (Ind) who died on 25 April. 29 June: Bromley and Chislehurst — Bob Neill (Con), to replace Eric Forth (Con) who died on 17 May. 2007 19 July: Ealing Southall — Virendra Sharma (Lab) to replace Piara Khabra (Lab) who died on 19 June. 19 July: Sedgefield — Phil Wilson (Lab) to replace Tony Blair (Lab), who resigned to take up a new role as Middle East Envoy. 2008 22 May: Crewe and Nantwich — Edward Timpson (Con) to replace Gwyneth Dunwoody (Lab) who died on 17 April. 26 June: Henley — John Howell (Con) to replace Boris Johnson (Con), who resigned after being elected Mayor of London. 10 July: Haltemprice and Howden — David Davis (Con) resigned and successfully stood for re-election, in protest over the Government's policy of detaining terror suspects for up to 42 days without charge. 24 July: Glasgow East — John Mason (SNP) to replace David Marshall (Lab) who resigned due to ill health. 6 November: Glenrothes — Lindsay Roy (Lab) to replace John MacDougall (Lab), who died on 13 August. 2009 23 July: Norwich North - Chloe Smith (Con) to replace Ian Gibson (Lab), who resigned after a Labour Party panel prohibited him from standing for re-election. 12 November: Glasgow North East - Willie Bain (Lab) to replace Michael Martin (Speaker), who resigned during the 2009 expenses scandal. Other changes 2006 Clare Short (Birmingham Ladywood) — resigned the Labour whip on 20 October 2006 and became Independent Labour. 2007 Quentin Davies (Grantham and Stamford) — defected from Conservative to Labour on 26 June. Bob Wareing (Liverpool West Derby) — resigned the Labour whip and became an Independent from 16 September 2007. Andrew Pelling