FORMER Tatton MP Martin Bell, left jobless nearly two months ago after failing to secure a second term as an independent, is to become an ambassador for Unicef, it emerged yesterday.

Mr Bell, who was defeated in the battle for the Conservative seat of Brentwood and Ongar in Essex, will join celebrities such as Robbie Williams and Jemima Khan as he attempts to raise the profile of the children's fund's work.

The former BBC war correspondent will be flown out to disaster-hit regions of the world at a moment's notice in a bid to boost the profile of Unicef's work for children across the globe.

A spokeswoman for the United Nations children's fund said Mr Bell would be sent to areas such as Kosovo and Burundi, where he has worked for the charity in the past, to draw attention to the fund's work.

"He will go as a person the public can recognise and a person with influence in certain spheres and do what he can," she explained.

Famous as the "man in the white suit" and a war reporter who was wounded in the Bosnian War, Mr Bell, 62, was someone who could "understand a lot of situations" at very short notice, she added.

She said: "I am sure he will still speak as Martin Bell on many occasions, but he is also someone who can speak on behalf of Unicef."

Mr Bell resigned as a BBC correspondent at the 1997 general election to take on Conservative MP Neil Hamilton, then embroiled in the "cash for questions" scandal, in his Cheshire constituency.

He overturned a Tory majority of more than 22,000 but kept his promise to serve only a single term representing the seat.

Two months ago, he slashed Eric Pickles' majority from 9,690 to 2,821 after campaigning against the alleged infiltration of the local Conservative Association by a Brentwood evangel ical church.