Chris Heaton-Harris was Conservative MEP for the East Midlands Region of the UK from June 1999 – June 2009. He held various positions in the European Parliament including that of Chief Whip of the British Conservatives from 2001-2004.
He made his name in the European Parliament trying to clean up the European Commission's accounts and had many well-reported battles with then European Commissioner Neil Kinnock. He became an expert on the European Union Budget process and has written extensively on this subject and you can find an example of his work in this area here.
He started his national political career by standing in the 1997 General Election in Leicester South. He also stood there, unsuccessfully again, in the 2004 by-election caused by the untimely death of Jim Marshall MP.
Chris is an active and qualified football referee and has been officiating the game at different levels for nearly 30 years. He currently referees on the Northamptonshire Combination League most Saturday afternoons. He is also President of Earls Barton Football Club.
Before entering politics he joined and eventually ran his family's business – a wholesale fruit and vegetable company based in New Covent Garden Market for eleven years (working nights all that time!)
Chris lives in Pitsford, in his Constituency. He became Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Daventry back in June 2006 and was elected as Member of Parliament for Daventry in the May 2010 General Election.
As PPC, Chris had been involved in, and led, many local campaigns. He helped many anti-wind farm campaigns organize and find their voice and has also been involved with the campaign against unwanted development based on plans issued by the "Joint Planning Unit" – a quango he looks forward to getting rid of.
Chris is an advocate of smaller government and responsible public spending. A fierce Eurosceptic, he hopes his experience in Brussels will be useful to any future Conservative government. He was one of the authors of "Direct Democracy" and is a passionate "localist". He currently sits on two Select Committees in the House of Commons: the Public Accounts Committee and the European Scrutiny Committee.