Along with nine other candidates Mr Bell had his nomination formally accepted yesterday describing himself as an Independent

Along with nine other candidates, Mr Bell had his nomination formally accepted yesterday, describing himself as an Independent. He had planned to describe himself as "Independent Anti-Corruption", but withdrew the words "anti-corruption" following the threat of legal action. Speaking after his nomination was accepted, Mr Bell, who was proposed by former Tory councillor Laurence Hobday, said that his title was irrelevant. "I'm standing as an Independent, but everyone knows it's on an anti-corruption platform.As he formally launched his election campaign with a walkabout in Alderley Edge, in Cheshire, he revealed that he was also being supported by two former mayors, one Labour and one Liberal Democrat, two war veterans and an England cricketer. "He's going to teach me to deal with the bouncers that may be coming my way," Mr Bell said.The first came just hours later, with the news that Mr. Hamilton's agent had launched a formal objection to Mr Bell's description of himself as Independent."Bell is not an independent candidate. He is a stooge of the Labour Party with Liberal support," Mr Hamilton said. "I call on him to withdraw his nomination papers and allow Tatton's voters a real choice between political parties."But the acting returning officer, chief executive of Macclesfield Borough Council, Brian Longden, rejected the complaint by Mr Hamilton, the former minister at the centre of the cash-for-questions row.

A spokesman said: "The acting returning officer has replied to say he cannot accept the objection as valid. Martin Bell's nomination is valid."Mr Bell described the attempt as "a desperate effort by a desperate man" "I was nominated by a Conservative councillor .. so Mr. Hamilton cannot claim that my nomination was anything other than totally cross-party," he said.As the list of candidates was closed at 4 pm yesterday, there initially appeared to have been another twist, with the description of candidate Simon Kinsley as an "Independent Conservative".But just half an hour later, a rather embarrassed spokesman for the council admitted that the description had been a mistake, and that the candidate was, in fact, simply Independent.Other candidates standing in Tatton are: David Laurence Bishop, Lord Byro v The Scallywag Tories Party; Sam Hill, Independent candidate; Michael Paul Kennedy, Natural Law Party; Simon Lowther Kinsey, Independent candidate; John Richard Muir, Albion Party; Ralph Nicholas, Independent candidate; Burnel Craig Penhaul, commonly known as Miss Money Penny the Transformer Miss Money Penny's Glamourous One Party; and Julian Matthew Price, Juice Party.. Tim Devlin is mildly displeased. A local bookmaker has just made him the narrow favourite to hold on to his marginal seat of Stockton South, a rare Tory foothold in the North-east. "I think I prefer it when people are doing me down as the underdog," explained Mr Devlin, busy door-knocking in a key ward But it is not unexpected. "I suppose I have a track record for surprising results." Clinging on to his majority of 3,369 would certainly be surprising.

The Teesside constituency is one of 90 "must win" seats for Labour, and at 64th on the list and according to form and party analysis, a win here would give Tony Blair's party a small overall majority.Mr Devlin, whose narrow trend-bucking ousting of the Social Democrats' Ian Wrigglesworth in 1987 made him the youngest Tory MP at 27, is undaunted. Cheerily shaking the hand of each voter who crossed his path, the former barrister seemed remarkably relaxed about being written off as a Tory loss as he shepherded his canvassing team around the houses. "We have heard it all before and we have fought back."His campaign themes are notably local issues, He claims that even Labour voters regard him as an approachable MP and points to his encouragement of the use of closed-circuit television and "zero tolerance" policing which has cut crime in the area.Traditional Labour voters, he believes, are unhappy with Mr Blair's new Labour and he thinks their abstentions could help him win. With his wife, Carol, he gleefully recalls the reaction of Labour voters on the doorstep. "One person said, 'I've been waiting 18 years to get rid of you effing bs, now I find the other effing bs are just the same'."Much of the chat in the crowded terrace house that is the election headquarters is light-hearted and domestic - of their two dogs and the lambs on their six-acre smallholding.

The property fits well with the southern part of the constituency where pretty towns such as Yarm show signs of considerable wealth. In contrast, some areas of the decaying industrial Stockton suffer male unemployment of up to 30 per cent and massive depravation.So far his campaign against Labour's Dari Taylor has been relatively civil, though he informed The Independent that Ms Taylor had been "parachuted" in by her party, and had been given a new Labour "makeover". He declared: "She has a new hairdo and wears suits."His own career is not without criticism. In 1994 he was removed as a ministerial aide, claiming that he left because of local defence cuts. Whips said he was sacked for "general ineffectiveness", although a year later he was given a similar post.Ms Taylor dismisses the personal criticism of her as "silly" but recognises that she has a real fight ahead to take the seat. She accepts that many of the undecided voters - around 25 per cent of the electorate - will fall back to the Tories, but she is confident that enough will switch or stay at home to give her the 3.9 per cent swing she needs to win. "There is everything to play for and this is a critical seat.

All eyes will be on us [at the election]."The daughter of the former Labour MP for Burnley, Daniel Jones, Welsh- born Ms Taylor - whose campaign is sponsored by the GMB general workers' union - detects a mood of anticipation in the seat. But she concedes that trust in all politicians to carry out their promises is low "People won't change, I know that We are going to have to prove that they can trust us. Winning the election is going to be the easy part."Already she feels that she has Mr Devlin on the run over schools' funding and a controversial plan to build a watersports centre on a tranquil spot on the Tees, to which Mr Devlin appeared to give initial backing.The Liberal Democrats also believe they see signs of movement to them by both disenchanted Tories and "betrayed" Labour supporters. They are choosing children according to a bewildering array of admissions criteria including appearance, parents' occupation, career aspirations and hobbies.Comprehensive schools which used to be grammars are giving preference to the children and grandchildren of former pupils.The three-year study, which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, involved interviews with 120 families whose children were transferring to secondary school in and around London.It concludes that recent reforms allow a growing number of schools to decide their own admissions policies and select pupils and to admit children who do not live locally, favouring middle-class applicants.The study found middle-class parents were no more likely than working- class parents to get their first choice of secondary school. It is the children whose parents don't know their way round the system who suffer."Letters, page 19. Schools are using covert selection to give middle-class parents the advantage in the race to secure places at schools with good exam results, according to research. Comprehensive schools, which say they are not selective, are interviewing parents and children to pick well-behaved pupils who will boost their league table performance, says the study from the London School of Economics. Most of the schools involved have opted out of local authority control and can decide their own admissions policy.