Piers Merchant
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Piers Rolf Garfield Merchant (born January 2, 1951) is a politician in the United Kingdom. He was Conservative MP for Beckenham, but resigned 1997. His resignation was caused by renewed allegations that he was sleeping with his researcher, that he had previously denied.
MPs cannot technically resign; instead he took the offices of Steward of the Manor of Northstead, which automatically led to his disqualification.
Before he became an MP he was a journalist and marketing officer. He first became an MP in 1983, for Newcastle Central, until 1987. He stood for Beckenham in 1992 and won.
In 2004, Merchant stood in elections to the European Parliament for the UK Independence Party in the North East European Constituency, at the top of their party list. He was not elected.