The death of John Boakes has created a situation that even Jeffrey Archer would blush to invent.  (Okay, sorry, well most thriller writers, then.)  Mr.Boakes was the UKIP candidate for Thirsk and Malton in the General Election on 6 May 2010; but he died suddenly, soon after nominations had closed.  In consequence, UKIP were allowed to nominate a replacement candidate and the poll was deferred to Thursday, 27 May. 

Thirsk and Malton is a new constituency, in which the Conservatives were expected to get about half the votes; with Labour and the Lib Dems expected to share most of the rest.

Now the electors of Thirsk and Malton are suddenly in the spotlight.  They are the first peasants permitted to express their views on the arrangements made by Dave and Nick - the two Cs - to rule us for the next five years.

The Conservative and Liberal Democrat candidates have said they will compete against each other in Thirsk and Malton; although one wonders how.  Will this be on the basis of the differing General Election manifestos or the subsequently agreed Coalition policies?  Or will the Lib Dem candidate merely point out that, as such, he has a better statistical chance of becoming a Cabinet Minister than his Tory opponent.

This would be a golden opportunity for traditional Conservatives, especially, to give a big rasberry to Messrs. Cameron and Clegg.  But will they take it? 

Traditional Conservatives tend to be very loyal; they will be glad to see the back of Mr. Brown; and they will probably still be rather shocked and confused by the Cameron/Clegg deal whereby Mr.Clegg suddenly became Deputy Prime Minister.  (Hang on.  Am I dreaming all this?  No... apparently not.)

When Neville Chamberlain arrived back from Munich, in 1938, and said he had reached an agreement which was in the country's best interests and would be long-lasting, most people cheered for a while.

I wonder if my fellow Yorkshire folk, in the constituency of Thirsk and Malton, will be more perceptive and astute.