UK General Election 1997 - Neil Hamilton vs. Martin Bell

On 20 October 1994, The Guardian published an article claiming that Hamilton, and another minister, Tim Smith, had received money, paid in the form of cash in brown envelopes, from Harrods' owner Mohamed Al-Fayed, for asking questions on his behalf in the House of Commons. The subsequent furore became known as the "Cash-for-questions affair". Smith admitted his guilt and resigned immediately. Hamilton claimed innocence but was eventually forced to resign his position as Corporate Affairs Minister on 25 October.

Hamilton sued The Guardian, along with Ian Greer, and had a 300-year-old law changed so he could do so, which was the Defamation Bill - altering the Bill of Rights 1689 by permitting what had been said in Parliament to be questioned in the courts. The Defamation Act 1996 gained Royal Assent in July 1996. However, on 30 September 1996, a day before the libel trial was due to begin, Hamilton and Greer claimed that a conflict of interest arose and both men dropped the libel action, saying that they could not afford to continue. They each paid £7,500 to The Guardian's legal costs. All the cash for questions evidence was sent to Sir Gordon Downey, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. On the evening of 1 October 1996, on Newsnight, Hamilton took part in a televised live debate with Alan Rusbridger, the editor of The Guardian.

During the 1997 General Election, Hamilton was determined to hold on to his parliamentary seat in what was then the fourth safest Conservative seat in the country. Hamilton's majority at the 1992 General Election was almost 16,000. Conservative Central Office said that selection of candidates was purely a matter for the local party and refused to intervene. On 8 April 1997, he won a candidacy selection vote by 182 to 35, although 100 members of the local party abstained. Hamilton said that if the Downey report found against him, he would resign as an MP.

He lost his seat to independent former TV news reporter Martin Bell.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• christine
• hamilton
• william
• roache
• ken
• barlow
• independent
• labour
• conservative
• conservatives
• liberal
• democrat
• tony
• blair
• john
• major
• paddy
• ashdown
• snp
• plaid
• salmond

[iainmclaughlan1975]

Neil Hamilton is innocent

[Mrsuarez25]

Martin Bell's daughter had worked as a prostitute in America.

[eclecticfire73]

"Give me the inference you motherfucker...i need to get you on the letter of the law..." LOL