The defection of Lisa Cameron MP from the SNP to the Conservatives has proved to be the big political talking point ahead of the former's annual conference.

The parliamentarian for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow announced she was standing down on the day she faced a likely deselection after a series of very public battles with party leadership.

While it's not uncommon for MPs to resign or have the whip removed, defections are altogether more rare.

Here are some other notable MPs who have crossed the floor.

Read More: SNP MP Lisa Cameron defects to the Conservatives hours before likely deselection

Kenny MacAskill

A former justice secretary at Holyrood, Mr MacAskill stood down as an MSP in 2016.

He was elected as the SNP candidate for East Lothian in 2019, but when Alex Salmond launched the Alba Party three years later he defected.

Mr MacAskill stood on that party's list at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election but was not selected.

Chuka Umunna

The Herald: Chuka Umunna

Once seen as a rising star of the Labour party, Mr Umunna was a member of the shadow cabinet under Ed Miliband.

When Mr Miliband resigned he entered the contest to replace him, only to drop out after three days saying he was uncomfortable with the added scrutiny.

When Jeremy Corbyn won he resigned from the shadow cabinet, and in 2019 he and six other Labour MPs quit the party to join Change UK.

He left months later to join the Liberal Democrats but failed to win a seat at the 2019 general election.

Phillip Lee

The MP for Bracknell literally crossed the floor during a speech by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson to join the Liberal Democrats.

He became their justice spokesperson but when he stood for election in Wokingham at the 2019 general election he was defeated by the Tory candidate.

Douglas Carswell

The Herald: Douglas Carswell.

A Tory MP for Clacton, Mr Carswell switched to UKIP in 2014. He resigned to trigger a by-election, which he won.

He left UKIP to sit as an indepdent in 2017 and did not stand in the general election a year later.

Read More: Explained in five minutes: Why Lisa Cameron quit the SNP for the Tories

Quentin Davies

Mr Davies left the Conservative Party to join Labour the day before Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, in protest at the leadership of David Cameron.

In an open letter he said: "Under your leadership the Conservative Party appears to me to have ceased collectively to believe in anything, or to stand for anything. It has no bedrock. It exists on shifting sands. A sense of mission has been replaced by a PR agenda."

He further stated he was looking forward to working under "a leader I have always greatly admired" and who had a "towering record".

Mr Davies had, two years earlier, described Mr Brown as "extraordinarily incompetent".

Alan Howarth

The first MP to defect to Labour since the 1920s, he crossed the aisle in 1995 right before the Tory party conference.

Mr Howarth was then elected to the safe seat of Newport East at the 1997 election and became Minister for the Arts at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

Sir Oswald Mosley

The last Tory MP to defect to Labour before Mr Howarth, he became an independent in 1920 before joining Labour four years later.

He is, however, best remembered for being a fascist.