Douglas Carswell - the MP who tabled the motion of no confidence in the Speaker - addressed TV reporters yesterday in reverential tones that would not have been inappropriate for describing an audience with the Pope. Martin Bell, he said in awe, had endorsed his call for “primary elections”, in which voters would choose all of a constituency's candidates as well as the one who would eventually represent them in Parliament.

Mr Bell, you will recall, was once elected on an “anti-corruption” ticket. As a demonstration of his contempt for the publicity lust that motivates so many politicians he always wears a white suit - rather as Lawrence of Arabia, according to Alan Bennett, remained inconspicuous by walking the streets of London in the flowing robes of an Arab prince.

Mr Bell is also living proof that independent MPs achieve very little. Dr Richard Taylor, the MP for Wyre Forest, is another. He stood for Parliament to save a hospital. He won, but the hospital closed.

Decisions are only made or changed when significant numbers of MPs come together in common cause. It is called the party system and enables voters to choose between rival programmes of government rather than which “personality” they prefer. And “personalities” - indeed, “celebrities” - are what a primary system would throw up.

We already have the threatened intervention of Esther Rantzen, who declared her “possible candidature” on Newsnight. Asked what she had to offer, she replied that she “would be different” from other contenders. The main difference seemed to be that she, unlike them, would have no policy.

Ms Rantzen is no more likely to win a seat in Parliament than she was to win Strictly Come Dancing - an enterprise she undertook with the same gay abandon. As I watched her reply to Jeremy Paxman, my first thought was: “Calm down, dear.”

It was driven from my mind by the horrible and, I fear, likely prospect of Michael Winner putting his name forward. Why not? Readers of a Sunday newspaper believe that Jeremy Clarkson ought to be prime minister. It is only reasonable to assume that they would gladly be represented by Graham Norton, Amy Winehouse or even Sir Alan Sugar.

And do not tell me that I am claiming a status for MPs that they do not deserve. Quite the opposite. Part of the House of Commons' problem is the idea that political ideas no longer matter. In truth, the person is less important than the policy. We need more ideologically committed MPs, not fewer.

Roy Hattersley's book, Borrowed Time: The Story of Britain Between the Wars, is now out in paperback

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