Syed is a member of the UK House of Lords, where he is Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Commonwealth. He is also a Professor of International Relations and Politics at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. He has held the roles of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Technology, Innovation and Life Sciences at the Department of Health and Social Care. Before this he was the Academic & Research Director at the Institute of Economic Affairs, the UK’s leading classical liberal think tank. From 2005 to 2019, he was a Conservative MEP for London. In the European Parliament, he was leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) political group of MEPs from 19 countries, and worked to promote open trade, tech start-ups and proportionate financial regulation. As the most senior elected British MEP, he acted as an interlocutor between UK and EU negotiators working on the withdrawal agreement. He formerly worked in IT and as a strategy, public affairs and diversity consultant. In London, he regularly met and worked with local community projects tackling poverty and social exclusion. He is currently setting up a microfinance project to offer online grants to entrepreneurs from poorer communities. He is also in discussions to set up a local charities network to help inspire and incubate more local community charities.
