Former MP Martin Bell has endorsed a new group of 47 independent candidates with "real world experience", aiming to win support from those fed up with the main parties.
The former BBC news reporter and independent MP for Tatton from 1997 to 2001 said the candidates had the unique opportunity to "change the face of politics for good".
Almost 50 independent candidates are standing for the grouping, ranging from a former MEP to a bus driver and a tabloid newspaper columnist.
The candidates have been endorsed by the Independent Network, an association that provides support to candidates who are not members of traditional political parties.
Supporters and candidates are asked to agree to the 'Bell principles', a code of conduct for elected representatives formulated by the former MP and the Independent Network.
In the last Parliament there were two independent MPs, Dr Richard Taylor (Wyre Forest) and Dai Davies (Blaenau Gwent), who are both standing for re-election.
Wearing his trademark white suit at a press briefing in London this morning, Bell described the network as a "contraption" rather than a political machine.
"Independents have an unprecedented opportunity on May 6 to change the face of politics for good," Bell said.
"It is a time for the election of a group of MPs, without party baggage but with real world experience, to be a force for honest politics in the new House of Commons.
"They will be answerable not to a political party but only to their constituents and their consciences. It won't be easy, but I believe that it is do-able."
The former BBC correspondent said that he realised there was a need for party politics but a "handful" of independents in Parliament would be good for democracy.
"There's a reason why we have a party system," Bell said. "But we also need people with independent minds and less of a whipping system."
Mail on Sunday columnist Suzanne Moore is standing against Labour's Diane Abbott in Hackney North and Stoke Newington.
And shadow chancellor George Osborne is to face a challenge for his Tatton seat from local business owner Sarah Flannery, a resident in the constituency for more than 25 years.
Article Comments
The lib-lab-con continues unabated and there are at least 48 not 47 Independent candidates standing in this election, although some of us are clearly invisible and clearly dont count...
23rd Apr 2010 at 11:28 am by Steven J Humphrey
