"TO the dismay of the Tory hierarchy, sleaze will continue to dominate the general election campaign, following the endorsement last night of Mr Neil Hamilton, the MP at the centre of the "cash-for-questions" row, by his constituency party.
Mr Hamilton was formally adopted as the Tory parliamentary candidate for Tatton by a vote of 182 to 100 after an hour-long meeting at a local public house. To the dismay of many local activists arguments for a private ballot were defeated.
The Conservative Association treasurer, Mr Tony Martin, who had urged Mr Hamilton to resign, predicted the Tories would now lose the seat to the anti-corruption candidate, Mr Martin Bell, the BBC war correspondent.
Despite Mr Bell's initial hope that his emergence, which is supported by both Labour and the Liberal Democrats, would have forced Mr Hamilton to resign, he said his campaign was now prepared for the contest.
"I still think he would do his party a huge favour to stand ....... because it is impossible to get the campaign back on the issues while sleaze is still out there. The question I'm asking is why to the Conservatives want to lose this constituency," he said.
The deputy Labour leader, Mr Jon Prescott, blamed the result on the decision by the British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, to have the longest election campaign this century, which prevented the publication of the official report into the "cash-for-questions" affair.
"He must now live with the consequences. A Tory election campaign mired in corruption and a Conservative candidate who symbolises his discredited party," he said.
However, before the meeting, Mr Major, who had privately hoped Mr Hamilton's right-wing colleagues could have persuaded him to resign, denied opposition claims that the row had proved he was a weak leader. "I am not going to bend to threats from other people and sneers from the Labour Party," he said.
Earlier, Mr Hamilton and his wife, Christine, confronted the newly selected anti-corruption candidate, Mr Bell, who was holding a news conference in Mr Hamilton's Tatton constituency. The Hamiltons challenged the BBC war correspondent to explain why he was standing against him.
Amid extraordinary scenes, Mr Bell told the Hamiltons that he had not chosen the anti-corruption title and was planning to contest the seat as an independent candidate, but that he hoped the campaign would be "clean".
However, Mr Hamilton repeatedly stated there was no need for an anti-corruption candidate to stand against him because he had denied all the accusations against him and stressed that he expected to be vindicated when the official report is published.
"All I want to know is whether you think I am guilty. Inevitably, because you are a high-profile figure, you have been described as an anti-corruption candidate. The inevitable inference is that this is going to be the issue of this campaign. .. if this is going to be the central issue of the campaign, it is nothing more than a smokescreen designed to ruin my career, said Mr Hamilton.
Mrs Hamilton attacked Mr Bell, who is now the bookmakers' favourite to win the seat, for being a "Labour Party stooge" and angrily demanded whether he accepted her husband's declarations of innocence: a question the reporter felt unable to answer.
"I don't know. I am standing because a lot of local people have asked me to stand. The impetus is coming from a lot of local people. There is a problem of trust. I cannot judge on questions of innocence until all the facts are made known," Mr Bell replied.
After stating he did not want the campaign to create the impression that "Parliament is a cesspit of sleaze," Mr Hamilton shook hands with his opponent and said he was looking forward to hearing Mr Bell's political views.