Michael Keith Smith (1953 – 3 July 2010),Tributes paid to political figure discovered dead
, Chris Broom, ''The News'', 7 July 2010 was the founder-chairman of the

Conservative Democratic Alliance The Conservative Democratic Alliance (CDA) was a political pressure group from the United Kingdom. The CDA referred to itself as the "authentic voice of conservatism". It closed in December 2008. Foundation and organisation The CDA was formed most ...

, a British right-wing pressure group.Tory expelled over rival election plan, by Marie Woolf, The Independent, 18 May 2002 He was also the successful claimant in '' Keith-Smith v Williams'', a landmark English

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

case in 2006 that confirmed that existing libel laws applied to internet discussion. Smith died after jumping from the keep at

Portchester Castle Portchester Castle is a medieval fortress that was developed within the walls of the Roman Saxon Shore fort of Portus Adurni at Portchester, to the east of Fareham in Hampshire. The keep was probably built in the late 11th century as a ba ...

on 3 July 2010.

Early politics

Mike Smith was a Chartered Surveyor. A member of the Conservative Party since 1970, he was Chairman of the Portsmouth South Young Conservatives 1972–76 and vice-chairman and Vice-President of the Wessex Young Conservatives between 1976–82; in 1984 he was elected President of the Portsmouth South Young Conservatives, and in the same year he stood for Portsmouth City Council. From 1985 to 1988 he was Vice-Chairman of Portsmouth South Conservative Association and in 1987 he was Deputy chairman. He gained the Conservative National Union (Wessex) Public Speaking Award for 1991.

Monday Club

He joined the

Conservative Monday Club The Conservative Monday Club (usually known as the Monday Club) is a British political pressure group, aligned with the Conservative Party, though no longer endorsed by it. It also has links to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Unioni ...

in 1971. He was a member of its Hampshire branch before 1974, sometime its vice-chairman and he was elected chairman in July 1987. He was co-opted onto the Club's National Executive Council in 1984, where he remained until 1993. When Mark Mayall stood down as chairman at the Annual General Meeting in 1994, Smith unsuccessfully stood for election to that post, losing to Lord Sudeley. In 1995 he stood as National Club Political Meetings Secretary, again unsuccessfully. He was subsequently involved in "Tories Against Sleaze". In 2001, the Monday Club's links with the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

were suspended because of the former's anti-immigration policies. After attempts by the Monday Club hierarchy to re-establish links with the Conservative Party, Smith proposed three motions at the Club's Annual General meeting in April 2002: reaffirming its opposition to mass immigration; empowering Club officers to institute legal action against the Conservative Party; and calling for the sacking of former Monday Club member

John Bercow John Simon Bercow (; born 19 January 1963) is a British former politician who was Speaker of the House of Commons from 2009 to 2019, and Member of Parliament (MP) for Buckingham between 1997 and 2019. A member of the Conservative Party prior to ...

, then

Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury The Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury is the most junior member of the Shadow Cabinet, and is the deputy to the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury acts as the primary opposition to the equivalent G ...

, for "hypocrisy". The first two motions were passed, with the one on Bercow being narrowly defeated.

Conservative Democratic Alliance

In response to the Conservative Party's treatment of the Monday Club and the Club's lack of will to fight it, Smith founded, in 2001, the

(CDA), a new traditional Tory pressure-group which immediately targeted

Oliver Letwin Sir Oliver Letwin (born 19 May 1956) is a British politician, Member of Parliament (MP) for West Dorset from 1997 to 2019. Letwin was elected as a member of the Conservative Party, but sat as an independent after having the whip removed in Sep ...

's seat, distributing leaflets saying that he was not a real Tory. In 2002,

Iain Duncan Smith Sir George Iain Duncan Smith (born George Ian Duncan Smith; 9 April 1954), often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. He was S ...

expelled Smith from the Conservative Party for threatening to stand candidates against Conservatives. Smith responded with a High Court writ, and Duncan Smith was forced to reinstate Smith's party membership. Duncan Smith then reportedly said that he had "plans to make the Conservative Democratic Alliance a proscribed organisation, which would ban party members from belonging to it." In the event, no such action was taken. Smith later left the Conservative Party and stood as a parliamentary candidate for the

United Kingdom Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest pa ...

Portsmouth North Portsmouth North is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Penny Mordaunt, the current Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council. She is a Conservative MP. Boundaries 191 ...

in 2005. Despite almost tripling the UKIP vote - which was widely attributed as having helped

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

to retain the seat against an insurgent Conservative vote - Smith came last of the four candidates and lost his deposit, having attained 3.6% of the vote.

Suicide

Smith had suffered from depression and mental health issues caused by the onset of

Type 2 diabetes Type 2 diabetes, formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, is a form of diabetes mellitus that is characterized by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin. Common symptoms include increased thirst, frequent urination, ...

. He was admitted to a psychiatric unit after stabbing himself on 24 June 2010 and killed himself by jumping from the keep of

, with the Assistant Coroner reaching a verdict of suicide.Politician killed himself straight after release from psychiatric unit

The News (Portsmouth) ''The News'' is the only local paid-for newspaper in Portsmouth, England, and covers a wide area of south Hampshire. It is produced by Johnston Press, owners of Portsmouth Publishing & Printing, at their headquarters in North Harbour, Portsm ...

, 5 April 2011

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Michael Keith 1953 births 2010 deaths Conservative Party (UK) politicians UK Independence Party parliamentary candidates Politics of Portsmouth British politicians who died by suicide Suicides by jumping in the United Kingdom