Jeremy Joseph James Hayes (born 20 April 1953) is a British former Conservative politician, the MP for Harlow in Essex from 1983 until he failed to be re-elected in 1997. He subsequently returned to practising criminal law. Early life Hayes' father was in the Merchant Navy during World War II. Hayes grew up in Epping and was educated at the London Oratory School in Fulham. Political career Hayes was selected as the Conservative candidate for Harlow in Essex in 1981. He was Member of Parliament for Harlow from 1983. He served on the Health and Heritage Select committees and was a Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Northern Ireland Office and the Department of Environment. He introduced a number of Acts including the Sexual Offences Act, the Nurse Prescribing Act and the Video Recordings Act. Hayes lost his seat to Bill Rammell, the Labour Party candidate, in the 1997 general election. Views Hayes was on the left on the Conservative Party, unlike most of the 1983 intake of Conservative MPs. Hayes opposed capital punishment and fought for free dental and eye check-ups. On his blog, Hayes wrote, "I'm on the independent left of the Conservative Party. During the Thatcher years I was regarded as a rebel. Heaven knows why, I just believed in social justice and pragmatism. But in those days that was about as popular as a rat sandwich." Once, when asked why he did not support Blair's New Labour endeavour, he replied "They're too right-wing". On the BBC Question Time programme on 9 May 2013, he expressed the view that there was a real danger that the entire legal profession would be placed in the hands of G4S within a couple of years. Image Roth's Parliamentary Profiles says of Hayes: "[He] has never taken himself seriously, and therefore has not been taken seriously by others." Betty Boothroyd, former Speaker of the House of Commons, said of Hayes that "he would look very pretty as a French maid; I wish I had his curls." Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher personally disliked his beard and yellow ties, which he refused to change, when asked. Hayes was a regular contributor on television quiz shows and talk shows, in particular, The James Whale Show. For over four years he regularly appeared with Charles Kennedy, Ken Livingstone and Michael Parkinson on a political discussion show on LBC in London. Hayes appeared on comedy show Have