An accidental MP
By: Martin Bell.
Publisher: Viking
Published: 2000
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 288
Subjects: Bell, Martin, 1938-; Legislators -- Great Britain -- Biography.; Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1997-
Genres: Biography.
Description: "'Frankly, it would have been easier to lose. At the back of my mind I had worked out a little concession speech which would have congratulated Neil Hamilton, paid tribute to my supporters and claimed some credit in so safe a seat for turning a procession into an election.' Tired of warfare, tired of the BBC, Martin Bell was looking for new challenges and failing to find them. He was then suggested as a candidate for Neil Hamilton's parliamentary constituency of Tatton - the fourth safest Conservative seat in the country." "After the most unusual and quixotic campaign of recent memory, Martin Bell was elected to Parliament by a landslide as an Independent - a species thought to have been extinct since 1950." "An Accidental MP is an account of that campaign and the fascinating years in Parliament that followed - constituency work, committee work and trying to find an independent place in the traditional structures of the House of Commons. It is a unique perspective on democracy, the role of an individual within Parliament and a fresh, entertaining account of an entirely unexpected career."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [215]-217) and index.