Speaking on BBC Radio Stoke - which is as close as he's prepared to get to Crewe and Nantwich given the hitherto-unknown doctrine that it is the "usual practice" of prime ministers to not appear before a by-election - Gordon Brown has defended Tamsin Dunwoody's campaign. Dunwoody, you will recall, has had a troupe of ambitious Labour flunkies trailing competitor Edward Simpson's every move, clad in top hat and tails to remind people of his wealth.
He himself, he said, was mocked on the campaign trail for being Scottish. "When I was fighting my own constituency campaign I had someone in a kilt playing a bagpipe", he said. “These things happen in a by-election.”
Given the only places he's ever stood for Parliament are Edinburgh South (Scotland), Dunfermline East (Scotland) and Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Scotland), you have to say, that was a somewhat unorthodox move by his opponents.