In 1997, he left parliament in disgrace having become the personification of sleaze, which shamed the Conservative government in its final days.

But a new book Trial by Conspiracy by Jonathan Boyd Hunt will claim Mr Hamilton was set up.

Mohammed al-Fayed: Gave Neil Hamilton cash in brown envelopes

The book, published on Monday, raises allegations against The Guardian, which broke the story, and businessman Mohamed al-Fayed, whose gifts and payments in brown paper envelopes to the former MP the allegations centred upon.

Cash for questions

Four years ago, on 20 October 1994, The Guardian splashed with a story alleging Mr Hamilton, a junior trade minister, and Tim Smith, a junior Northern Ireland minister, had taken up to £2,000 each to ask questions in the Commons.

The story accused the pair of taking cash from the lobbyist Ian Greer to ask questions in parliament on behalf of Harrods' Mr al-Fayed.

Mr Smith admitted taking undeclared payments and resigned immediately while Mr Hamilton and Mr Greer issued wrists for libel.

But, within a week, Mr Hamilton had resigned from his ministerial position and Lord Nolan's committee on standards in public life had been set up.

The following summer, the Conservative-dominated Members' Interest Committee concluded Mr Hamilton was "imprudent" not to have registered a lavish stay at the Paris Ritz but no further action was taken.

Conservative members of the committee argued the inquiry could not be extended because of the pending libel case.

Hamilton dropped his libel action against The Guardian

But Mr Hamilton and Mr Greer eventually dropped their action against The Guardian on the eve it coming to court in September 1997.

A month later the then prime minister, John Major, announced he would send all his evidence on the cash for questions affair to Sir Gordon Downey, the Commissioner for Parliamentary Standards.

But prior to the publication of the Downey report, Mr Hamilton had to fight for his political life in the 1997 general election.

The Battle for Tatton

The blue-chip Tory seat in the heart of stockbroker belt Cheshire was one of most bizarre election contests in recent memory.

Suddenly, thrust into the political spotlight, came BBC veteran war correspondent Martin Bell, standing on an anti-sleaze ticket against Mr Hamilton.

Mr Bell arrived on the political scene on 7 April, replacing the Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates.

Martin Bell campaigned on an anti-sleaze slate

While the rest of the UK was caught up in party politics fought on traditional lines, the battle for Tatton was a head-to-head fight between the white suited broadcaster and the disgraced MP, backed up by his formidable wife Christine and the likes of actor Bill Roach who plays Ken Barlow in Coronation Street.

In Mr Bell's corner were some equally famous names including David Soul, of Starsky and Hutch fame, Peter O'Toole and Mr Bell's daughter Melissa.

The only other candidates to contest the seat was the seven-foot Transformer Miss Moneypenny of Miss Moneypenny's Glamorous One Party and poet Lord Byro of the Lord Byro Versus the Scallywags Tories Party.

Ultimately, it was Mr Bell, who once predicted he would have "the shortest political career in history", who took the seat to make him the only Independent MP in Westminster.

Final insult

Prior to this year's annual Conservative conference in Bournemouth Mr Hamilton received another rebuff when party leader William Hague singled him out as one of the MPs who had brought the party into disrepute.

The former Tatton MP was not welcome at the conference, was the message.

Mr Hague also made it clear Mr Hamilton would never stand again as a Conservative MP.