Editing Roger Helmer (section)

===Conservative===
[[File:Roger Helmer in 2008.jpg|thumb|upright|Helmer at an event in [[Brussels]] in 2008]]
In September 1998, following his selection as a candidate for the Conservative Party in the East Midlands, Helmer left his job as managing director of a Leicester textile company, Donisthorpe Ltd (the UK subsidiary of a French textile multinational), to campaign full-time ahead of the 1999 euro-elections, and took up his new role as an MEP immediately after his election.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rogerhelmer.com/biog.asp|title=Biography|date=5 April 2004|access-date=10 August 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821100246/http://www.rogerhelmer.com/biog.asp|archive-date=21 August 2009}}</ref>

He was re-elected as a Conservative MEP for the East Midlands Region in 2004.<ref name=micandidate.eu />
He was suspended from the Conservative Party whip on 26 May 2005 after voting against party instructions on a motion to censure the [[European Commission]] and openly criticising his delegation leader, [[Timothy Kirkhope]], in a parliamentary debate;<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/1490818/Euro-Tories-suspend-MEP-in-row-over-EU-president.html |title=Euro Tories suspend MEP in row over EU president |first=David |last=Rennie |date=26 May 2005 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=London |access-date=25 April 2012}}</ref> the Conservative party whip was restored on 13 September 2006,<ref name=politics.co.uk>{{cite web|url=http://www.politics.co.uk/news/party-politics/conservatives/eurosceptic-mep-has-tory-whip-restored-$450320.htm|title=Eurosceptic MEP has Tory whip restored|date=13 September 2006|publisher=politics.co.uk|access-date=10 August 2009}}</ref> but he remained ''[[Non-Inscrits|Non-Inscrit]]''. He joined the [[European Conservatives and Reformists Group|European Conservatives and Reformists]] (ECR), with the other Conservative MEPs, in July 2009.

Having initially advocated the Conservative policy of renegotiating the EU treaties, since 2006 he has been a supporter of the [[Better Off Out]] campaign, calling for the UK to leave the EU.<ref>{{cite web |title=Supporters |url=http://www.betteroffout.co.uk/sup01.htm |publisher=Better Off Out |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080208093916/http://www.betteroffout.co.uk/sup01.htm |access-date=10 August 2009 |archive-date=8 February 2008}}</ref>

He was appointed Adam Smith Scholar in 2005 by the [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] [[American Legislative Exchange Council]] (ALEC).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.conservatives.com/People/Members_of_the_European_Parliament/Helmer_Roger.aspx |title=Roger Helmer MEP |publisher=conservatives.com |date=10 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100429160211/http://www.conservatives.com/People/Members_of_the_European_Parliament/Helmer_Roger.aspx |archive-date=29 April 2010 }}</ref>

He became chairman of the libertarian pressure group, [[The Freedom Association]], in April 2007.

In November 2009 he stepped down as the Conservative party's spokesman on employment in the European parliament because he thought the Conservatives' new policy on not supporting a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty was "confused" and "essentially cosmetic".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/nov/05/meps-hannan-helmer-quit-lisbon-referendum|title=Resignation|access-date=5 November 2009 | location=London|work=The Guardian|first1=Patrick|last1=Wintour|first2=Andrew|last2=Sparrow|date=5 November 2009}}</ref>