John Douglas Naysmith (born April 1, 1941) is the Labour and Co-operative member of Parliament for Bristol North West, and is one of only 3 MPs whose surnames start with N. He had previously been a councillor in Bristol City Council , and is an immunologist.
Doug Naysmith was first elected for Bristol North West at the 1997 general election. He had previously constested it at the 1992 general election, when he lost by only 45 votes, the smallest majority in England at that election.
During his time in Parliament, Mr. Naysmith has largely been loyal to the government. Though he abstained in the Parliamentary vote authorizing British military involvement in the Iraq War in 2003, he joined with the government in voting for the introduction of top-up fees, helping the Prime Minister secure an extremely narrow 5 vote majority (316-311). More recently, in November 2004, the Bristol North West MP controversially voted for an outright ban on fox hunting in England and Wales in a measure that passed the House of Commons substantially.
