Major Narindar Saroop, cavalry officer, clubman and Tory candidate of traditional views – obituary
He wrote letters to The Telegraph on race relations, and in a memoir wrote that he strove to keep ‘fools, boredom and socialism at bay’
Saroop: touched by the spirit of Wodehouse
Credit: Lucy Young/Evening Standard/eyevine
Major Narindar Saroop, who has died aged 91, was the first person of Asian background to be chosen as a Conservative parliamentary candidate in the 20th century, when he ran a dashing though unsuccessful campaign in Greenwich during the 1979 general election.
At a time when most aspiring politicians were increasingly trying to prove their oneness with ordinary electors, and many immigrants were concerned with quietly getting on with their jobs, Saroop was an unashamedly elitist addition to the party list.