Deva was educated at Loughborough University, where he completed a degree in Aeronautical Engineering and was subsequently a Postgraduate Research Fellow in Economics.

[citation needed] Deva stood as the Conservative Party candidate in Hammersmith at the 1987 general election but lost by 2,415 votes to sitting Labour MP Clive Soley.

This was to be the first European election in the UK to use the closed party-list proportional representation electoral system and Deva was placed fifth amongst the eleven Conservatives candidates in South East England.

[citation needed] At the 2004 European Parliament election Deva was moved up to second place on the Conservatives' list of candidates for South East England.

[12] In April 2005 he was chairman of the European Parliament's delegation to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in New York, and delivered a paper on the future of the United Nations at the US Council on Foreign Relations.

Also in 2005 he was Co-Chairman (with former Prime Minister of France Michel Rocard) of the European Parliaments' Delegation to the World Summit at the United Nations 60th General Assembly.

[19][20] Deva serves as co-ordinator on the Committee on Overseas Development and Cooperation, and is a bureau member of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

[23][24] Deva used an official European Parliament trip to Barbados in 2009 to promote Symphony Environmental Technologies, a company from which he received £33,000 a year for being its chairman.

[27][28] Deva's family has extensive business interests in Sri Lanka including tea, rubber and coconut plantations as well as a distillery and residential property.

[39][40] Deva is a shareholder, director and chairman of Symphony Environmental Technologies PLC, a company listed on the Alternative Investment Market.

[61] In 1981, Deva became Chairman of the Bow Group, a conservative think tank in Great Britain, and initiated the Transatlantic Conferences between the Bow Group and the Republican Party and The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. Deva was appointed Chairman of the Department of Transport and National Consumer Council Committee on Deregulation of Air Transport, whose report was published by the UK Government in March 1986.

[citation needed] In 1985, he became the first Asian-born person to be appointed by Queen Elizabeth II to the office of Deputy Lieutenant for Greater London – a position which he holds for life.

[citation needed] He is a Fellow of Britain's Royal Society of Arts, President of the EU-India Chamber of Commerce, and a Patron of the International Monarchist League.

[citation needed] Deva has backed many important education and health issues – he is a staunch supporter of the Autism Awareness Campaign UK and in Sri Lanka.