Martin Bell

UNICEF ambassador; former journalist and politician

Martin Bell is a UNICEF ambassador and former journalist and politician. He was educated at the University of Cambridge and served in the British Army in Cyprus as part of his national service, before joining the BBC in 1965. Over the next 30 years, he reported from 80 countries and covered 11 conflicts, reporting from Vietnam in the 1960s, and later in the Middle East, Nigeria, Angola and Rwanda, and Northern Ireland.

During the 1997 general election, he stood as an independent candidate for Tatton in Cheshire, eventually winning the seat with an 11,000 majority. In 2001, he stood as an independent candidate for the Essex constituency of Brentwood and Ongar, but was defeated. He briefly returned to television in 2003, analysing the Invasion of Iraq for ITN, and unsuccessfully stood for the European parliament in the June 2004 elections. He is currently an ambassador for UNICEF.

Bell is the author of five books, including The Truth That Sticks: New Labour’s Breach of Trust (2007), and A Very British Revolution: The Expenses Scandal and How to Save Our Democracy (2009). He was the recipient of the Royal Television Society’s Reporter of the Year award in 1977 and 1993, and was awarded an OBE in 1992.