An Accidental MP (Hardcover)

Review
This is a truly remarkable story: the celebrated foreign correspondent and television journalist Martin Bell decides (just three weeks before the general election) to become 'The Man in the White Suit' with a mandate to topple Neil Hamilton from his position in Tatton, the fourth safest Tory seat in the country. The fact that Bell's anti-sleaze stand resulted in a landslide victory (he won by 11,000 votes) is not the most striking aspect of the story. Why did Bell abandon a highly successful career in the media? We've had partial answers before, but this fascinating book deals with all the intriguing questions about Bell. Is he naive, as his detractors claim? How has his subsequent career in the House developed? How did he convince people that he was more than a single-issue (i.e.anti corruption) politician? And what was the true story of his confrontations with the rigidly smiling Neil Hamilton and his wife Christine (whose name rarely appears without the adjective 'formidable'? In a narrative voice that has all the concision and analytical skill that one would expect from a writer with Bell's background, this beguiling book takes us through the whole tale. Bell is incisive, too, when discussing his disenchantment with current journalism (he clearly considers that the 'dumbing down' process in the media has affected broadcast news quite as much as drama and pop music, and forcefully reminds us of the rigorous journalistic standards that were once the norm). In every respect he seems to be a man of deep conviction, and fully aware that this position might make him appear a whited sepulchre, or at least holier-than-thou. A remarkable story, and that rare thing: a book which is quite unlike any other. (Kirkus UK)

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