Television host, journalist and reality TV star Esther Rantzen is to stand as an independent candidate in the Luton South constituency at the next election.

Rantzen’s interest in running for office was sparked after the seat’s Labour MP Margaret Moran was caught up in the parliamentary expenses scandal.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Moran claimed 22,500 pounds for dry rot repairs for her second home in Southampton, nearly 80 miles from her constituency.

One small snag for Rantzen is that Moran has already said she plans to stand down.

“If you’re going to stand as an anti-sleaze candidate surely it would make more sense to stand against an actual wrongdoer,” said the Conservative candidate for Luton South, Nigel Huddleston.

Rantzen, 69, insists she is standing because of the local support she has received in her attempt to take advantage of a “new wind blowing through the world of politics and maybe bringing some fresh air with it”.

Writing in the Guardian newspaper, former independent MP Martin Bell warned Rantzen to expect a rough ride in the coming months.

“She can expect to have her record gone through with the finest-toothed of combs,” said Bell.

“I hope that she joins the handful of independents - most of them local heroes rather than celebrities - who have an unusual chance of being elected to the Commons. Our dishevelled politics needs them.”

What do you think of Rantzen’s decision to stand? Will it help clean up our “dishevelled politics”? Can independent candidates make an important contribution to the running of Parliament? Or is she jumping on a publicity bandwagon?