Peter Bessell

Who was Peter Bessell?

Peter Joseph Bessell was a British Liberal Party politician, and Member of Parliament for Bodmin in Cornwall from 1964 to 1970.

He was educated at Lynwyd School, Bath, Somerset, and was a Methodist lay preacher from 1939 to 1970. He first stood for parliament as a Liberal in Torquay in both the 1955 general election, and the by-election there later that year.

At the 1959 general election, he was the Liberal candidate in the Bodmin constituency, but lost to the sitting Conservative MP Sir Douglas Marshall. He stood again at the 1964 general election, defeating Marshall with a majority of over 3,000. He held the seat at the 1966 general election, despite a strong challenge from the Conservative John Gorst.

Bessell did not contest the 1970 general election, when the Liberal candidate Paul Tyler lost Bodmin to the Conservative Robert Hicks. Meanwhile, in 1970, Bessell fled to the United States in an attempt to escape from the debts incurred by numerous unsuccessful companies, which had necessitated his standing down from parliament.