Jonathan Sayeed
| Jonathan Sayeed | |
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| Member of Parliament for Mid Bedfordshire |
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In office 2 May 1997 – 11 April 2005 |
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| Preceded by | Sir Nicholas Lyell |
| Succeeded by | Nadine Dorries |
| Member of Parliament for Bristol East |
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In office 9 June 1983 – 9 April 1992 |
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| Preceded by | Constituency Established |
| Succeeded by | Jean Corston |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 20 March 1948 |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
Jonathan Sayeed (born 20 March 1948) is a British politician who was a Conservative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom from 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2005.
He was the only member of the Conservative front bench who consistently, openly and publicly opposed the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Even though he was reselected by the Mid Bedfordshire Conservative Association as the Conservative candidate to recontest his seat in the House of Commons shortly before the 2005 General Election, he was forced to retire by ill health.
He was criticised by the Committee on Standards and Privileges for being "at the least negligent, at the worst careless" in respect of a company in which he had an interest but was completely cleared of any impropriety. In the investigation by Sir Thomas Legg into MPs expenses he was one of the minority of MPs who were completely cleared of any misuse of their second home allowances.
Jonathan Sayeed was the son of the late M M Sayeed, chartered electrical engineer, and L S Sayeed. He is sometimes described as 'Anglo-Indian' or 'half-Indian' due to his father being Indian; however Sayeed did not describe himself as a member of an ethnic minority. Sayeed was educated at Woolverstone Hall School in Suffolk.
He joined the Royal Navy in 1965, when he was 17. He spent two years at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth and then studied at the Royal Naval Engineering College, Manadon, for a BSc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. He left the Navy aged 24 in 1973.
After leaving the Royal Navy, Sayeed joined Marks and Spencer PLC as a management trainee. Since 1974 "he worked as a shipping and insurance consultant", and held directorships in various international companies:
Whilst he was MP for Mid Bedfordshire, Sayeed lived in Westminster, and also had a house in Houghton Conquest.
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