[2] He is the brother of literary translator Anthea Bell (who died in 2018)[3] and the uncle of Oliver Kamm, now a Times leader writer who served as his political adviser during his term as a Member of Parliament (MP).

[2] On 7 April 1997, twenty-four days before that year's British general election, Bell announced that he was leaving the BBC to stand as an independent candidate in the Tatton constituency in Cheshire.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats withdrew their candidates in Bell's favour in a plan masterminded by Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's press secretary.

Bell was appointed UNICEF UK Ambassador for Humanitarian Emergencies in August 2001, to work to improve the plight of children affected by conflict and natural disasters.

Bell reversed his previous decision and stood for the European Parliament in the June 2004 elections, but was ultimately unsuccessful as an independent candidate in the East of England region, winning only 6.2% of the vote.

[20] In April 2006, Scottish National Party MP Angus MacNeil asked the Metropolitan Police to investigate whether any law had been broken in the Cash for Peerages scandal.

[22] On 21 May 2009, he appeared on the special live edition of BBC's Question Time which was held in Salisbury in the midst of the political scandal surrounding MPs' expenses.

In November 2018, Bell fell at Gatwick Airport and required major maxillo-facial surgery at St George's Hospital to rebuild his face.

[26] In November 2021, Bell was approached by the Liberal Democrats to run in the 2021 North Shropshire by-election after the resignation of the Tory MP Owen Paterson after a lobbying scandal, but declined to stand.

He has two daughters with his first wife, Helene Gordoun, a Frenchwoman whom he left for the American television journalist Rebecca Sobel during his time in Washington.