Jeffery John Mumford Speed

Jeffery John Mumford Speed was born on 3 October 1936, the son of Herbert Victor Speed and Dorothy Barbara Speed (née Mumford).[3] He was educated at Bedford Modern School.[1]

Speed started his career in commerce with General Motors before being made a Conservative Party Agent (1965–78).[3] He was election agent for the Rt Hon. Iain MacLeod (1970); Cecil Parkinson (1970); and the Rt Hon. Edward Heath (1974).[3]

Speed held a number of positions at Conservative Central Office including Director of Constituency Services (1993–95) before becoming the Director of Fundraising (1995–96). Speed was described as the "ultimate party worker", a party stalwart, and he was credited with turning around the party's finances, wiping-out over twelve million pounds in the party's deficit and building-up the party coffers before the 1996 elections.[2] He mysteriously resigned just before those elections, due, it was said, to a disagreement with Dr Brian Mawhinney, the Conservative Party Chairman.[2]

Speed is a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management.[3] He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1993 and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 2003.[3]

Speed was invested as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1991.[3]

In 1985, Speed married Hilary Anne Busfield, daughter of the late Haley Busfield of Mayfield, Sussex.[3] His interests include antique maps (especially those by John Speed), oenology, travel (particularly in Spain), musical theatre and film.[3] He is a member of the Royal Over-Seas League.[3]

Jeffery Speed is the brother of Sir Herbert Keith Speed[1] and a direct descendant of John Speed.[4]

• Tudor townscapes: the town plans from John Speed's: "Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine 1610". Published Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire, 2000[4]