About Nirj Deva
Niranjan Joseph De Silva Deva Aditya (born 11 May 1948), known as Nirj Deva, is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as a Member of the European Parliament for South East England from 1999 to 2019. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) in the British House of Commons from 1992 to 1997, for the seat of Brentford and Isleworth. Deva was born in Sri Lanka into a politically active family and was raised in Britain. He was the fifth Asian-born person to be elected a Member of the House of Commons, and in 1999 became the second so-born to be elected as a Conservative to the European Parliament which operates via a party list system. In November 2011 Deva became the European Conservatives and Reformists Group's candidate for President of the European Parliament, following three UN-related roles, representing the European Union, in the 2005 to 2006 period. This was to be the first European election in the UK to use the closed party-list proportional representation electoral system and Deva was placed fifth amongst the eleven Conservatives candidates in South East England. Deva became the first Asian-born person to be elected as a Conservative member of the European Parliament.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.