On 7 April 1997, twenty-four days before that year's British general election, Martin Bell announced that he was leaving the BBC to stand as an independent candidate in the Tatton constituency in Cheshire. Tatton was one of the safest Conservative seats in the country, where the sitting Conservative Member of Parliament, Neil Hamilton, was embroiled in "sleaze" allegations. The Labour and Liberal Democrat parties withdrew their candidates in Bell's favour in a plan masterminded by Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's press secretary.[11][12]
On 1 May 1997, Hamilton was trounced, and Bell was elected an MP with a majority of 11,077 votes[13] – overturning a notional Conservative majority of over 22,000 in the 4th safest Conservative seat in the UK – and thus became the first successful independent parliamentary candidate since 1951.[10]
When Bell spoke in the House of Commons, it was mostly on local issues or matters of British policy in the former Yugoslavia and the Third World. Although Bell voted with the Labour government of Tony Blair on many issues, he voted with the Conservatives in opposing the repeal of Section 28. He also voted against the banning of fox hunting. On 12 November 1997 Bell was cheered from the Conservative benches when he asked Blair about the Bernie Ecclestone affair, "Does the Prime Minister agree that the perception of wrongdoing can be as damaging to public confidence as the wrongdoing itself? Have we slain one dragon only to have another take its place, with a red rose in its mouth?"[14]
Bell described being an independent politician in Parliament as a "fortunate position" as he did not have to compromise for party interests, however he acknowledged it is a "necessary evil" for why compromises had to be made between politicians principles and the end policy outputs.[15]
As part of his election platform, Bell had stated that he would only serve for one term, his specific purpose being to oppose Neil Hamilton. Bell said that the only thing which could make him change his mind would be Hamilton being selected by the Tatton Conservative Party as a candidate for the next general election. However, George Osborne (a future Chancellor of the Exchequer) was selected in March 1999 as the Conservative Party candidate for Tatton. Hamilton lost his libel case against Mohamed Al-Fayed in December 1999, ending any prospect of him making an immediate political comeback.[16] Though he regretted making the pledge of saying he would only serve for one term, Bell stuck to his promise.
In 2001, Bell stood as an independent candidate against another Conservative MP Eric Pickles in the "safe" Essex constituency of Brentwood and Ongar, where there were accusations that the local Conservative Association had been infiltrated by a Pentecostal church.[17] In this election, Labour and the Liberal Democrats did not stand aside for him. Bell came second and reduced the Conservative majority from 9,690 to 2,821.
Having garnered nearly 32% of the votes and second place, Bell announced his retirement from politics, saying that "winning one and losing one is not a bad record for an amateur".
The Channel 4 drama Mr White Goes to Westminster was loosely based on Bell's political career.
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