David Bellotti

Who is David Bellotti?

David Frank Bellotti is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom who was Member of Parliament for the Eastbourne constituency from 1990 to 1992.

Bellotti first contested the Eastbourne seat at the 1979 general election, subsequently fighting Lewes in the 1983 and 1987 general elections under the Liberal banner. He then won the parliamentary seat of Eastbourne for the Liberal Democrats in the Eastbourne by-election following the assassination of Conservative MP Ian Gow by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Two years later Bellotti was defeated by Nigel Waterson in the 1992 general election in which John Major's Conservative government was re-elected.

He subsequently unsuccessfully contested the East Sussex and Kent South constituency in the 1994 elections to the European Parliament.

David Bellotti returned to local government, regaining a seat on the council. He then became CEO of Brighton & Hove Albion, a position in which he controversially took part in the sale of the club's stadium after their articles of association had been changed, allowing for profit to be made on the sale of the Goldstone Ground. This change was however reversed on the insistence of the Football Association, preventing directors from taking out more than they had invested. Bellotti became reviled by Brighton fans and left the area shortly afterwards.