Hamilton rose through the ranks of the British Conservative Party during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1983, he became the party's Member of Parliament for Tatton in North-West England. In 1996, Mohamed Al-Fayed, owner of the Harrod's department store in London, claimed that Hamilton had accepted bribes to ask questions in the British Parliament. Neil Hamilton strenuously denied the allegations, but this was just one of a number of damaging "sleaze" allegations facing the ruling Conservative Party in the run-up to the 1997 General Election. Former BBC news reporter Martin Bell stood against Hamilton as an independent candidate and famously defeated him in a landslide victory, ending Hamilton's political career. Neil and his wife Christine Hamilton have subsequently become celebrities thanks to several memorable confrontations between them and Bell, which were broadcast nationwide on news programmes. They appeared on the satirical news quiz Have I Got News for You (1990) shortly after their election defeat in May 1997, and have since attempted to launch a career as television presenters, with limited success. Together they sued Mohamed Al-Fayed for libel in 2000. The case was thrown out of court, and the huge legal bills forced Hamilton to file for bankruptcy. In summer 2001, events took an even more bizarre turn when the Hamiltons were accused of sexual assault by 22-year-old Nadine Milroy-Sloan who told her story to publicist Max Clifford. Although the allegations proved to be completely unfounded, they were once again surrounded by journalists and news cameras. Events were captured by BBC filmmaker Louis Theroux, who coincidentally was making a documentary about the couple when the story broke. Events in 2001 have proved that the public are still intrigued by this slightly eccentric person.