Robert Kilroy-Silk

Robert Kilroy-Silk's election as an MEP in the East Midlands took the silver-haired 61-year-old back to the career he left to become a household name. Born in Birmingham, Robert was educated at the London School of Economics. He worked as a university lecturer before becoming a Labour MP. He represented Ormskirk in Lancashire from 1974 and was involved a long-running dispute with supporters of the hard left Militant Tendency. He later switched seats opting for the safe Labour constituency of Knowsley North following the 1983 boundary review, serving on Labour's frontbench as a home affairs spokesman. Three years later he quit to host the BBC's Kilroy show.

Robert insisted he had no regrets about abandoning the serious work of Westminster politics. He once said the BBC expected him to do Newsnight or Question Time, but that he found Kilroy more interesting and it paid more. It was a career that saw him brush with controversy on more than one occasion.

Married with two children, Robert's return to the political fray again shows he has no desire for a quiet life. In 2005 he founded his own political party called Veritas, which is Latin for truth. He then went on to fight the Derbyshire seat of Erewash in the 2005 General Election.