Neil Hamilton, Vote Conservative sign, General Election Knutsford Tatton Ward, Cheshire, North West England, UK, Tory sleaze, lies & grifting

Mostyn Neil Hamilton, AM (born 9 March 1949) is a British politician, non-practising barrister, and former teacher. He has served as a UK Independence Party (UKIP) Member of the National Assembly for Wales for the Mid and West Wales region since 2016; he was previously Conservative MP for the Tatton constituency from 1983 to 1997. After being implicated (alongside Tim Smith) in the cash-for-questions affair, Hamilton became widely associated with sleaze; he was defeated in the 1997 general election, and subsequently left politics. His wife Christine and he went on to become media celebrities. He left the Conservative Party in 2002, and joined UKIP. He was elected to the National Executive Committee of UKIP in 2011. Following his election to the National Assembly for Wales, he served as UKIP Assembly Group Leader between 2016 and 2018, and has served as Leader of UKIP Wales since 26 September 2016. In April 2019, Hamilton was the UKIP candidate in the by-election for Newport West. He was third behind the Labour and Conservative candidates with 2, 023 votes. On 20 October 1994, The Guardian published an article which claimed that Hamilton and another minister, Tim Smith, had received money, in the form of cash in brown envelopes. It claimed the money was paid to the men by Mohamed Al-Fayed, the owner of Harrods. In return, the men were to ask questions on behalf of Al-Fayed in the House of Commons. Smith admitted his guilt and resigned immediately. Hamilton claimed innocence but was forced to resign five days later, on 25 October 1994.