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 m ...

, 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 ''Keith-Smith v Williams'' is a 2006 English libel case that confirmed that existing libel laws applied to internet discussion. It was important because it was seen as the first UK internet libel case that represented two individuals rather th ...

'', a landmark English

libel Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

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 bar ...

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 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 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, then Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, 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's seat, distributing leaflets saying that he was not a real Tory. In 2002,

Iain Duncan Smith Sir George Iain Duncan Smith (born 9 April 1954), often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who was Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Le ...

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 in Portsmouth North in 2005. Despite almost tripling the UKIP vote - which was widely attributed as having helped 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 (T2D), 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 ...

. 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), 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