By Jonathan Isaby
David Cameron is today visiting Oldham East and Saddleworth to campaign for Conservative by-election candidate, Kashif Ali.
This will be the first time in nearly fifty years that a Conservative Prime Minister has gone out on the stump in such a contest: Macmillan returned to his old Stockton seat to support the Conservative candidate in a by-election there in 1962, whilst Douglas-Home did of course fight and win a by-election himself after disclaiming his peerage on his appointment as Prime Minister in 1963.
But Heath, Thatcher and Major all opted never to campaign in by-elections, with Wilson and Callaghan taking the same view.
Tony Blair campaigned in Uxbridge in the summer of 1997 - where Labour's Andy Slaughter was roundly defeated by John Randall - and his only other by-election outing as PM was again unsuccessful, in Eddisbury.
Gordon Brown went to two by-elections as Prime Minister - Glenrothes and Glasgow North East, both in his native Scotland.
Check back later for coverage of the Prime Minister's visit to Oldham.
6.15pm update:
David Cameron has now been to Oldham East and he said that the party was "fighting very hard for every vote" and that Kashif Ali would make "a very good Member of Parliament":
"This is actually about choosing a new Member of Parliament for Oldham and Saddleworth. That's the key thing and who's going to make the best candidate to replace the Labour MP who had a seat taken away from him because of the way he behaved during the election. It's about someone to stand up for this area in parliament. Our candidate is very strong and I think he'd do a very good job... I'm the first Prime Minister for years to campaign in an English by-election… There were lots of byelections in England and you didn't see Gordon Brown and you didn't see Tony Blair."
Earlier in the day he spoke at an event at which he answered journalists' questions about the by-election. His reply is 30 seconds into the clip.
