Malcolm Harbour CBE is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer, he was elected Conservative MEP for the UK West Midlands in 1999 and re-elected in 2004 and 2009. ​

From 2009 to 2014 he served as Chairman of the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee. For 12 years Vice President of Science and Technology Foresight Panel. He was a key player in shaping policies and legislation for the single market, manufacturing industry, the digital economy, research and consumer protection. ​

Lead roles in the reform of Public Procurement Legislation, and in promoting Public Procurement of Innovation. Since 2016, leading an innovation project group for UK Local Government, first report published in September 2017. Governing Council Member at the University of Birmingham. Senior Adviser on the Single Market to the European Policy Centre, Honorary Member of the European Internet Forum. Director of the all party UK Parliamentary Forum, the Digital Policy Alliance. Vice President of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute. Appointed a CBE for services to the UK economy in 2013. ​

He had regular contacts with all the car industry representative bodies, and many private discussions with top level executives. ​

He was keen to improve the industry’s engagement with the European Parliament and was founder Chairman of the Forum for Mobility and Society. He held Director level roles in Rover Group, covering product and business planning, marketing, home and export sales. ​

In 1989 he set up a car marketing strategy consultancy, and in 1994 jointly founded the International Car Distribution Programme.