Keith William Twort Raffan (born 21 June 1949) is a former British politician. From 1983 to 1992, he served in the British House of Commons as the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for the Delyn constituency in Wales. Then from 1999 to 2005, he was a Scottish Liberal Democrat Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Mid Scotland and Fife region.
Early life
Raffan was born in Aberdeen and educated at Robert Gordon's College, Trinity College, Glenalmond, and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Prior to entering parliament he was a parliamentary sketchwriter for the Daily Express. He joined the Liberal Democrats that same year, and after working as a broadcaster and public relations consultant in New York and for Welsh TV channel HTV moved to Scotland.
In the 1999 Scottish Parliament election Raffan was elected as a regional list MSP to represent Mid Scotland and Fife. He was one of three Liberal Democrat MSPs – along with Donald Gorrie and John Farquhar Munro – who opposed the coalition with the Labour Party in the Scottish Parliament, and was alone among his Liberal Democrat colleagues in not backing Donald Dewar for First Minister (he abstained from the vote). Noted for his flamboyant and theatrical manner when participating in debate, early in the parliament's first term he gained notoriety for tabling 38 written questions in one day.