Keith Harding is a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 politician. He was a Conservative

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 and Unionist

Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party

The Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party is the part of the British Conservative Party that operates in Scotland. Like the UK party, it has a centre-right political philosophy which promotes conservatism and strong British Unionism...

 Member of the Scottish Parliament

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Member of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...

 for Mid Scotland and Fife from 1999 to 2003.

He was leader of Stirling Council from 1991 to 1995. After being elected to Holyrood

Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...

 he was the Conservative spokesman on local government and housing.

Prior to the 2003 election he was moved from first to fifth place on the Conservative's list for Mid Scotland and Fife. After parliament was dissolved he defected to the newly formed Scottish People's Alliance. He subsequently fought Stirling

Stirling (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Stirling is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the plurality method of election...

 for the SPA but came in a poor sixth place with only 642 votes (2.2%).

He is a member of the national policy committee of the New Party

The New Party (UK)

The New Party is a neoliberal political party in the United Kingdom. The party describes itself as "a party of economic liberalism, political reform and internationalism"...

, the successor to the SPA.

External links

• Senior Tory defects to new party BBC story