The Conservative & Unionist Party does not judge you on where you came from – but on where you want to go.
Jonathan has always been inspired by his father. His father moved to Britain from India, with just £40 in his pocket and yet through his own hard graft and motivation made a successful lifelong career in the NHS as a doctor. He married a local nurse and has never wanted to be anything other than British.
Jonathan moved from his parental home in Ipswich to attend Edinburgh University, he fell in love with the city and has never wanted to live anywhere else since. Following university, Jonathan went on to have a successful career in the energy sector which led to him being one of the youngest BAME men to report to board members of a FTSE 100 company. He then took the plunge and started his own business operating a number of accountancy offices across Central Scotland, one of which was officially opened by the then Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party, Ruth Davidson.
Already a party member whilst still at school, Jonathan joined the Scottish Conservatives in 1996, helping Liz Smith (Now Chief Whip in the Scottish Parliament) campaign in Edinburgh South in 1997. He has remained a member ever since, taking on an ever more active campaigning role
In 2014 Jonathan playing an important role in the Better Together campaign, where he organised local deliveries and ran telephone canvassing teams. He played a significant part in the 2015 General Election and 2016 Scottish Parliament elections, helping the Conservatives campaign across Edinburgh and the Lothians. His work was noted by local associations and he was asked to run the 2017 local elections in Midlothian, where he saw a county go from zero Conservative councillors to holding almost a third of the seats.
Jonathan also ran the Midlothian General Election campaigns in 2017 and 2019 which saw the Conservative vote soar to over 20%, and in 2017 secure the highest vote share since 1979. In addition, Jonathan ran an impressive by-election campaign in Penicuik which saw the Conservative vote that had been under 10% in 2012, reach over 30%. Organising the delivery of over 55,000 leaflets and canvassing over 3,000 doors in a 12-week campaign, he cemented his reputation as one of the party’s most effective campaigners and motivators of activists.
Jonathan says,
“As a member of the BAME community, it was natural that I would lean towards the Conservative Party, as a party that does not judge you on where you came from – but on where you want to go.”
He added,
“The party's values of hard work and self-reliance are values that are universal. As a Conservative, I have always supported a safety net for those who need it most - not a harness on people’s aspiration.