CELEBRITY wife Christine Hamilton was the guest of honour at a dinner for female entrepreneurs from across East Lancashire.

The wife of ex-Tory MP Neil Hamilton addressed the inaugural Women in Business dinner at the Dunkenhalgh Hotel, Clayton-le-Moors, last night.

It was organised by Unique, the Chamber of Commerce's networking group for businesswomen in East Lancashire, which has more than 300 members.

Mrs Hamilton is famed for the forceful support she gave her husband during his 1997 General Election campaign in the Cheshire constituency of Tatton, when he lost to former BBC war correspondent Martin Bell.

Since then she has written a book about Great British Battleaxes, including Queen Victoria and Margaret Thatcher, and took part in the ITV reality show I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here in 2002.

Unique development co-ordinator, Clare Tetlow, said: "Christine is a very big name and it was a very big coup to get her. She had never been to East Lancashire before.

"Unique holds events throughout the year but this was our annual end of year event at which we reflected on the group's achievements over the past 12 months."