Rabbi Alan Plancey, emeritus rabbi of Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue, will be swapping the pulpit for the soapbox when he contests a Hertfordshire Council seat for the Conservatives in a by-election this month.

The ebullient Scot’s political inclinations caused a rumpus some years ago when, as a sitting minister, he signed the nomination papers of his local Tory parliamentary candidate, one Cecil, later Lord, Parkinson.