Voters in the Northamptonshire town of Corby will on Thursday choose a candidate to fill the parliamentary seat recently vacated by high-profile Tory Louise Mensch.
Mensch announced in August her decision to resign — just two years after being elected — in order to spend more time with her family in New York despite the prospect of promotion in a government reshuffle.
The seat is seen as an electoral barometer with the town returning a candidate from the winning party in every general election for the past 30 years.
Labour hopes its healthy position in national opinion polls will translate into by-election success for candidate Andy Sawford, with party leader Ed Miliband visiting the town four times during campaigning.
Conservative hopeful Christine Emmett suffered a setback on Tuesday when footage emerged of campaign chief Chris Heaton-Harris apparently backing a rival in order to put pressure on the wind-power industry.
In secretly-filmed footage leaked to the Guardian, Chris Heaton-Harris said his friend and Daily Telegraph columnist James Delingpole would signal his intention to run in order to bring up the issue of wind farms.
Delingpole withdrew from the race two weeks ago without paying his deposit.
Mensch won the seat with a majority of 1,951, and in June 2010 was elected to serve on the Select Committee for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, contributing to the infamous cross-examination of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch last July.
Results are not expected until early Friday.
Swing-seat of Corby set to vote
