Keith Speed

Sir Herbert Keith Speed, RD, DL (born 11 March 1934) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom and former Member of Parliament. He is a descendant of cartographer and historian John Speed.

Speed was born on 11 March 1934 in Evesham and educated at Bedford Modern School. He served in the Royal Navy from 1947-56 and continued in the Royal Naval Reserve thereafter as a Lt Cdr. After a period as a sales and marketing manager, he gained employment in the Conservative Research Department in 1965.

After unsuccessfully contesting St Helens in 1964, Speed was elected MP for Meriden in Warwickshire in a 1968 by-election and held the seat until 1974. New constituency boundaries were drawn up prior to the February 1974 general election and Speed lost his Meriden seat to Labour's John Tomlinson.

He was selected to succeed Bill Deedes as Conservative Candidate for the seat of Ashford in Kent in the October 1974 General Election, and was elected as MP with a majority of over 6,000.

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