Chris Mason: Farage tries to back agenda after finance deal.

I am told that the aim of reform is to hold the by-election as soon as possible.

They immediately break with the formality of Parliament.

This means that Farage has been given a Crown appointment which prevents him from becoming an MP – either Steward of the Crown and Bailiff of the Hundred of Chyler or Steward of the Crown and Bailiff of the Living of Northstead.

Once that happens and Clayton’s seat becomes vacant, the bill could be moved in the Commons to trigger a by-election before the summer recess begins next weekend while Parliament is still in session.

That could mean a by-election sometime next month – just as a new government led by Andy Burnham takes office.

The question now is how the reformers will respond.

Do you place candidates or not?

Restoring Britain, led by former Reform MP Rupert Lowe, has said it will not stop.

Reform is Burnham’s first big challenge and he is urging Labor to do so.

But Team Burnham is describing it as a “gimmick” and the prime minister called it a “desperate show” at a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.

And in these circumstances there is a precedent for the opposition not to present candidates – and by participating they do not support what they see as advertising.

In the year In 2008, Conservative MP David Davies left the Heltempris and Howden seat in a campaign for civil liberties. Neither Labor nor the Liberal Democrats opposed it..

Incidentally, it’s worth remembering that this supplementary election does not stop the Standards Commissioner’s ongoing investigation, which, as I’ve mentioned, may itself eventually lead to a recall petition and, yes, a supplementary election.

It has left some in Parliament wondering if Nigel Farage will fight and win one by-election and face another.

This will only happen if Parliament decides that this punishment is justified, and crucially, 10% of voters on the electoral roll in Clayton have signed a recall petition.

In that case, people there had enough ballot boxes and polling stations.

Let’s see.

What the Reformation is trying to say is we’re getting ahead of you – and it’s getting its attention and its agenda.

We’re on a split screen in winter form: a new Prime Minister with Andy Burnham on one side and his biggest political rival Nigel Farage on the other.