Editing Stuart Bell (section)

==Parliamentary career==
Bell was elected to the City Council of [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] in 1980. In 1982, the Labour MP for Middlesbrough, [[Arthur Bottomley]] announced that he would step down at the next general election; Bell won the subsequent selection process to fight the seat at the [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983 general election]]. Bell comfortably held [[Middlesbrough (UK Parliament constituency)|the seat]], elected with a majority just short of 10,000 votes.

At [[Westminster Parliament|Westminster]], Bell became the [[Parliamentary Private Secretary]] to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition [[Roy Hattersley]] in 1983. He was promoted to the [[Frontbench|shadow frontbench]] in 1984 by [[Neil Kinnock]] as a Spokesman for [[Northern Ireland Office|Northern Ireland]]. However, he chose to resign his post after the [[Cleveland child abuse scandal]] which occupied two years of his life, after making unsubstantiated accusations of 'clinical error' against local paediatricians and child sexual abuse specialists. The paediatricians, Dr. Marietta Higgs and Dr. Geoffrey Wyatt, were later absolved and their forensic clinical work validated at a committee of inquiry overseen by Dame [[Elizabeth Butler-Sloss]]. The committee concluded that most of the diagnoses were incorrect.<ref name="Gazette">{{cite news|url=http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/local-news/20-years-cleveland-child-sex-3729871 |title=20 years on from the Cleveland Child Sex Abuse Scandal |newspaper=GazetteLive |date=8 July 2008}}</ref> As a result, 94 of the 121 children were returned to their homes.<ref name="Gazette"/><ref>Staff writer, [http://www.childrenwebmag.com/articles/key-child-care-texts/the-cleveland-reportby-judge-elizabeth-butler-sloss The Cleveland Report] digest by Robert Shaw, Children Webmag 2011, accessed 17 July 2014</ref>

After the [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992 general election]] and the election of [[John Smith (Labour Party leader)|John Smith]] as the Leader of the Labour Party, Bell returned to the shadow frontbenches as a spokesman for [[Department of Trade and Industry (United Kingdom)|Trade and Industry]]. After the election of the Labour Government at the [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997 general election]] he was dropped from Labour's frontbench, but was appointed on the advice of [[Tony Blair]] as the [[Church Commissioners|Second Church Estates Commissioner]], the spokesman for the [[Church of England]] in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]], a position he held from 1997 to 2010.

In 1998, Bell was one of 14 Labour MPs who voted against equalising the [[age of consent]] for homosexual activity.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/divisions/pw-1998-06-22-311-commons/mp/10358|title=Crime and Disorder Bill — Reduction of Age of Consent for Homosexual Acts to 16: Recent Votes|website=TheyWorkForYou|accessdate=22 January 2025}}</ref> From 2000 to 2005 he was the Chairman of the [[Finance and Services Committee]], which manages the annual budget of the House of Commons and its many employees. In 2005 he became a member of the Finance and Services Committee until 2008 when he served as chairman until 2010. Relatedly, from 2000 until 2010 he was a member of the [[House of Commons Commission]], which oversees the administration of the House and the Members Estimate Committee that sets MPs' pay and pensions. He was a member of the Liaison Committee between 2000–10. He was a member of the Ecclesiastical Committee from 1997.

Bell sat on the Members Estimates Committee at Parliament and was heavily involved representing MPs' interests in the [[United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal|MPs' expenses scandal of 2009]]. He was a member in Speaker's Committee for the [[Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority]] between 2009–10. A founder member of the [[British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body]], he was a Treasurer of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Promotion of First Past the Post.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/register/first-past-the-post.htm |title=Page cannot be found – UK Parliament |access-date=15 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822191249/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/register/first-past-the-post.htm |archive-date=22 August 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> and was Secretary of the Franco-British Parliamentary Relations Committee in the Commons. In February 2010 Bell was played by [[David Calder (actor)|David Calder]] in the television film [[On Expenses]].