Former MP Martin Bell is extending his cool credentials by turning hip-hop star with a new satire record.

Parliament scored a first this year by hosting R 'n' B diva Alicia Keys - and now the man in the white suit is trying to show politics and music can mix.

It is the latest reinvention for the BBC war correspondent who turned politician to defeat Conservative MP Neil Hamilton at the 1997 election.

The hip hop song, called Media Junkies, lampoons what Mr Bell sees as the spread of tabloid news values into mainstream television.

Calling the tune

The former Independent MP described the record, which will raise money for charity Unicef, as "dance music with a narration".

"I don't sing because I can't ... that is a huge relief, isn't it?"

Fleet Street, Wapping, it's all the same, Sensationalism is what's to blame, Media junkies getting another fix, Tripping to the news stand to get our kicks

Martin Bell satire track

The lyrics were originally written by a production company and later rewritten by Mr Bell, who has added some verses of his own.

The old habits of a politician die hard and rather than doing his rendition on Radio 1, he performed on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

His selected verse ran:

War with Iraq,
Tell us another,
We'd rather know about Big Brother,
We want our nightly trivia fix,
We'll get it on the News at Six.
Down in the jungle what can rival
Tonight's celebrity survival,
Pop Stars rescuing their careers,
But famine in Africa - nobody cares.

Mr Bell told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he was having a "gentle nudge" at programmes like the Six O'Clock News.

Some evenings the bulletin was fine, he said.

"Other nights, it's lifestyles of the rich and famous, it's celebrity chat, it's sport, it's royalty, it's medical scares," he complained.

He added: "I don't mind tabloid values in tabloid newspapers but when it hits mainstream television, it bothers me."

'News hungry'

The satire track is the brainchild of Andy Lawson, creative director of production company Like Minds.

Mr Lawson told the Guardian newspaper: "I was interested in the public's insatiable appetite for news on a daily basis and it occurred to me to write a music track that echoed that sentiment.

"It could only really have been Martin.

"He was our first and only choice for his integrity and his white suit image."

Mr Bell fitted the project perfectly, said Mr Lawson, because of his belief the media was dumbing down.

Talks had started with record companies over the track but a release date had yet to be announced, added Mr Lawson.

Mr Bell's criticisms of the Six O'Clock News were rejected by Mark Damazer, deputy director of BBC News.

Mr Damazer said: "Martin Bell was a fantastic BBC correspondent, but in this case we have to disagree.

"The Six O'Clock News uses some different techniques to those used in Martin's day but its purpose remains the same - to inform and explain events in the UK and around the world to a big BBC One audience."