Madel contested the London seat of
Erith and Crayford in
a 1965 by-election, and again in
the general election the following year, but was beaten on each occasion by
Labour's James Wellbeloved. He was a
Conservative Party member of parliament for
South Bedfordshire and later
South West Bedfordshire for 31 years from
1970 until he stood down at the
2001 general election. Madel almost suffered one of the biggest upsets of the
1997 general election, when his majority was cut from the 1992 result of 21,273, to just 132 votes. ==References==