Sir Patrick Cormack, the MP whose election was delayed for seven weeks, received a rousing cheer of support when he returned to the Commons yesterday - and a personal welcome from the Prime Minister.
The delay was caused by the death of one of the original candidates. By law, this meant the election had to be stopped and nominations in the constituency re-opened.
As Sir Patrick rose to speak in the House of Commons, he was greeted by a roar of support from all sides.
He asked Tony Blair whether he would support reforms to ensure such delays did not happen in future.
Sir Patrick, a Conservative, asked Mr Blair to "look with sympathy" on a Bill he is bringing as a backbencher to change election law.
Mr Blair said: "I will certainly look carefully at what he says. I don't know the answer to it at the present time, but I understand it has been a strange and difficult situation he has found himself in, but he has overcome it."
Sir Patrick has argued that, as the law now stands, if any of Mr Blair's 14 opponents in his Sedgefield constituency had died during the campaign, the Prime Minister would have been unable to return to the Commons and would have been forced to leave Number 10 despite Labour's election win.
