Rushanara Ali Explained

Rushanara Ali
Native Name:রওশন আরা আলী
Native Name Lang:bn
Honorific-Suffix:MP
Office:Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Building Safety and Homelessness
Term Start:9 July 2024
Primeminister:Keir Starmer
Predecessor:Lee Rowley (Building Safety)
Felicity Buchan (Homelessness)
Office1:Member of Parliament
for Bethnal Green and Stepney
Term Start1:6 May 2010
Predecessor1:George Galloway
Majority1:1,689 (3.5%)
Embed:yes
Suboffice:Investment and Small Business
Subterm:2023–2024
Suboffice1:Further Education
Subterm1:2013–2014
Suboffice2:International Development
Subterm2:2010–2013
Birth Date:14 March 1975
Birth Place:Bishwanath, Sylhet, Bangladesh
Party:Labour
Alma Mater:St John's College, Oxford (BA)
Nationality:British

Rushanara Ali (Bengali: রওশন আরা আলী; born 14 March 1975) is a British politician who has served as a Member of Parliament (MP) since 2010 and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Building Safety and Homelessness since July 2024.[1] [2] A member of the Labour Party, she was the first British Bangladeshi elected to Parliament.

Ali was initially elected to represent Bethnal Green and Bow in 2010, and represented the constituency until its abolition in 2024. She currently represents the Bethnal Green and Stepney constituency, having won it in the 2024 general election.

Early life

Ali was born on 14 March 1975 in Bishwanath, Sylhet District, Bangladesh.[3] With her family, Ali emigrated to the East End of London at the age of seven, where she attended Mulberry School for Girls and Tower Hamlets College. She grew up in Tower Hamlets where her father was a manual labourer. The first in her family to go to university, Ali studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St John's College, Oxford.[4]

Early career

Ali began her career as a research assistant to Michael Young, working on a project which paved the way for the establishment of Tower Hamlets Summer University, offering independent learning programmes for young people aged 11–25. She helped to develop "Language Line", a national telephone interpreting service in over 100 languages. Between 1997 and 1999 she was parliamentary assistant to Oona King, MP for Bethnal Green and Bow.[5]

Ali worked on human rights issues at the Foreign Office from 2000 to 2001. Prior to this, she was a research fellow at the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) focussing on anti-discrimination issues from 1999 to 2002. From 2002 to 2005, she worked in the community cohesion unit at the Communities Directorate of the Home Office, leading a work programme to mobilise local and national agencies in the aftermath of the 2001 riots in Burnley, Bradford and Oldham, to prevent further conflict and unrest, challenging central Government to provide appropriate support to these areas.[6]

Previously, Ali worked as associate director of the Young Foundation in Bethnal Green, a thinktank focused on social innovation. She has also served as Chair of Tower Hamlets Summer University; a commissioner on the London Child Poverty Commission; board member of Tower Hamlets College; Trustee of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation; and member of the Tate Britain Council.[7] [8]

Ali has published articles on a variety of political issues in numerous national and local media including The Guardian, Prospect magazine and Progress magazine.[9] [10] [11] [12] Ali has also appeared on Question Time Extra, BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour and Thinking Allowed.[13] [14]

In March 2009, Ali was listed by The Guardian as one of the most powerful Muslim women in Britain.[15]

Parliamentary career

In April 2007, Ali was chosen as the Labour Party's prospective Parliamentary candidate for Bethnal Green and Bow. In May 2010, she was elected as a Member of Parliament with a majority of 11,574 votes.[16] She is the first person of Bangladeshi origin to have been elected to the House of Commons,[17] [18] and along with Shabana Mahmood and Yasmin Qureshi, became one of the United Kingdom's first female Muslim MPs.[19] [20]

In February 2013, Ali voted in favour of the Same Sex Marriage Bill.[21] This drew support from pro-LGBT activists such as Peter Tatchell, but condemnation from religious figures such as the Imams of mosques in Tooting and Bradford.[22] She would later defend a constituent who alleged he was a victim of homophobic hate crime after his neighbours sang songs at him with the words "queer", "fairy" and "fag", calling for the case to be reconsidered in a letter to the Crown Prosecution Service.[23]

In April 2013, Ali was appointed a Governor of the UK government funded Westminster Foundation for Democracy.[24]

Ali served as Shadow Minister of State for International Development from October 2010 to October 2013.[25] In the October 2013 Labour frontbench reshuffle, Ali was appointed Shadow Minister of State for Education.[26]

On 26 September 2014, she resigned from the Shadow Education team to abstain on the Coalition government's House of Commons motion permitting military action against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Iraq.[27] In a letter to the leader of the party Ed Miliband, she wrote "I appreciate the sincerity of members of parliament from all sides of the House who today support military action against ISIL. I know that British Muslims stand united in the total condemnation of the murders that ISIL have committed. However, there is a genuine belief in Muslim and non-Muslim communities that military action will only create further bloodshed and further pain for the people of Iraq."

Ali also told Miliband that she remained totally committed to his leadership and was looking forward to his becoming the prime minister in next eight months' time. In his return letter to Ali, Miliband praised her as 'someone with great ability and talent'. Regretting her departure from the frontbench team, the Labour leader added that he accepted the resignation with due respect to her decision.[28] [29]

Ali retained her seat at the 2015 general election, doubling her majority to 24,317 and earning a 61% share of the vote.[30] In June 2015, she was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election.[31]

During the 2010-2015 parliament, Ali claimed a total of £674,982 in expenses.[32]

In April 2016, British Prime Minister David Cameron appointed Ali as the Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Bangladesh,[33] [34] as part of cross-party trade envoy network.[35] [36] She supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 leadership Election, calling on Corbyn to "do the decent thing" and quit as Labour leader.[37] [38]

Ali campaigned to remain in the European Union in the 2016 membership referendum and in 2017 voted against the triggering of Article 50.[39]

In June 2017, in the general election, Ali retained her seat with an increased majority of 35,393.[40] [41] [42]

In March 2018, Ali received a suspicious package containing an anti-Islamic letter and sticky liquid.[43] The substance was later found to be harmless. Similar packages were received by fellow Labour MPs Mohammad Yasin, Rupa Huq and Afzal Khan.[44] [45]

In October 2018, Ali signed the 'MPs not border guards' pledge, committing to not report constituents to the Home Office for immigration enforcement.[46]

As of 2019, Ali is part of the executive committee of the British-American Project.[47] In December 2019, in the general election, Ali retained her seat with an increased majority of 37,524.

In early 2020, Ali supported Keir Starmer in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.

In March 2020, Ali was one of 76 Labour MPs to urge that the government grant recourse to public funds for all migrants in the UK regardless of their legal status.[48]

In March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, she defended the closure of Victoria Park in her constituency.[49]

In March 2021, a 42-year-old man was sentenced after orchestrating an 18-month hate campaign against Ali which included death threats.[50]

In November 2022, as a serving MP, Ali received £10,000 for 32 hours of work to represent a privately funded "Commission of Inquiry" to investigate the Kazakhstan Government and the detention of Zhanbolat Mamay.[51] In a press conference on 20 January 2023, Bindmans LLP, the project manager, refused to disclose the name of their client but revealed it was a Kazakhstan citizen or citizens.[52]

In the September 2023 British shadow cabinet reshuffle, she was appointed Shadow Minister for Investment and Small Business,[53] a position she lost following the 2024 general election and Prime Minister Starmer's subsequent appointment of his cabinet.

While Ali did issue a statement calling for an humanitarian ceasefire during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war,[54] she came under significant criticism from constituents for not attending an immediate ceasefire vote in November 2023. [55] This angered her constituents, leading to protests in front of her office including a protest from local school students.[55] [56] During the 2024 general election, she subsequently saw her 37,000-majority reduced to 1,700 and thus only narrowly avoided losing her seat to an independent candidate running on a pro-Palestine platform. [57]

Rushanara Ali is a member of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East.[58]

See also

External links

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Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ministerial Appointments: July 2024 . 2024-07-19 . GOV.UK . en.
  2. Web site: Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Building Safety and Homelessness) - GOV.UK . 2024-08-16 . www.gov.uk . en.
  3. News: UK gets its first Bengali MP. Bangladesh. Bdnews24.com. 7 May 2010. 12 May 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20110717110208/http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?cid=1&id=160498. 17 July 2011. dead. dmy-all.
  4. Web site: Rushanara Ali . Alumni Spotlight . St John's College, Oxford . 3 October 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181003181734/https://www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/alumni/alumni-spotlight/rushanara-ali/ . 3 October 2018 . live .
  5. Web site: About Me . Rushanara Ali MP . 3 October 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181003220856/https://www.rushanaraali.org/about_me . 3 October 2018 . live .
  6. Book: Karim. Mohammed Abdul. Karim. Shahadoth. British Bangladeshi Who's Who. July 2008. British Bangla Media Group. 45.
  7. News: Rushanara Ali. London Child Poverty Commission. 18 September 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20100402020300/http://www.socialinnovationexchange.org/user/18. 2 April 2010. dead. dmy-all.
  8. Web site: Rushanara Ali. https://web.archive.org/web/20110704183508/http://213.86.122.139/about/r-ali.jsp. dead. 4 July 2011. London Child Poverty Commission. 18 September 2008.
  9. News: Ali. Rushanara. Let power reflect the people. The Guardian. 20 February 2008. 18 September 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080606054534/http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/feb/20/2. 6 June 2008. live.
  10. News: Ali. Rushanara. The Angry East End. Prospect. March 2006. 18 September 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20071211200150/http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=7329. 11 December 2007. live.
  11. News: Ali. Rushanara. One year later. Prospect. July 2006. 18 September 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20071027084806/http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=7532. 27 October 2007. live.
  12. News: Ali. Rushanara. Articles by Rushanara Ali MP. Progress. July 2006. 24 October 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141024174526/http://www.progressonline.org.uk/author/rushanara-ali-mp/. 24 October 2014. dead.
  13. Web site: Are more young women happy to vote Conservative?'. BBC Radio 4. 14 May 2008. 18 September 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080628101324/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/02/2008_20_wed.shtml. 28 June 2008. live.
  14. Web site: Laurie Taylor discusses the latest social science research.. BBC Radio 4. 25 June 2008. 18 September 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080628112810/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/thinkingallowed/thinkingallowed_20080625.shtml. 28 June 2008. live.
  15. News: Muslim Women Power List. The Guardian. 25 March 2009. 3 June 2009.
  16. News: Cooke . Phoebe . 7 May 2010 . Rushanara Ali triumphs in an "historical moment" for Bethnal Green and Bow . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170609103247/http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/seasonal/election/election-2017-labour-hold-in-tower-hamlets-as-conservatives-lose-majority-1-5054650 . 9 June 2017 . 7 May 2010 . . London.
  17. News: Cooke . Phoebe . 10 May 2010 . Rushanara Ali becomes first Bangladeshi MP . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100510214106/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/politics/article-23831748-rushanara-ali-becomes-first-bangladeshi-mp.do . 10 May 2010 . 11 May 2010 . This is London . dmy-all.
  18. Web site: Why Bangladeshis behind in British politics? . 2024-06-22 . dazzlingdawn.com . en.
  19. News: Adetunji . Jo . Tran . Mark . 7 May 2010 . General election 2010: first female Muslim MPs elected . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20100509090226/http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/07/general-election-female-muslim-mps . 9 May 2010 . 7 May 2010 . The Guardian.
  20. News: 6 May 2017 . BBC News – Election 2010 – Constituency – Bethnal Green & Bow . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20100412010337/http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/election2010/results/constituency/a26.stm . 12 April 2010 . 7 May 2010 . BBC News.
  21. News: 18 February 2013 . Peter Tatchell praises Muslim MPs for supporting equal marriage and blasts anti-gay fatwas . PinkNews.
  22. News: 8 March 2013 . London: Anti-gay marriage public meeting at Tooting Mosque in response to Muslim MPs support for equal marriage . PinkNews.
  23. News: 24 August 2017 . Court rules that song labelling gay men 'fairy' and 'fag' is not homophobic . PinkNews.
  24. Web site: Governors . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170719003152/http://www.wfd.org/governors-and-patrons/ . 19 July 2017 . 22 July 2017 . Westminster Foundation for Democracy.
  25. Web site: Parliamentary career for Rushanara Ali - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament . 2021-01-05 . members.parliament.uk . en.
  26. News: 8 October 2013 . Confirmed: Labour's new frontbench team in full . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20190407070942/https://labourlist.org/2013/10/confirmed-labours-new-frontbench-team-in-full/ . 7 April 2019 . LabourList.
  27. News: 26 September 2014 . BBC News – MPs support UK air strikes against IS in Iraq . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20190413213126/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29385123 . 13 April 2019 . 22 June 2018 . BBC News.
  28. News: 26 September 2014 . As it happened: Commons debate on Iraq airstrikes . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20141030102507/http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article4218629.ece . 30 October 2014 . 29 October 2014 . The Times.
  29. News: 26 September 2014 . Rushanara Ali resigns as shadow education minister over vote on Iraq military action . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20141207071627/http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2014/09/26/rushanara-ali-resigns-as-shadow-education-minister-over-vote-on-iraq-military-action . 7 December 2014 . 29 October 2014 . . Bangladesh.
  30. News: 7 May 2010 . Bethnal Green & Bow . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170612091827/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000674 . 12 June 2017 . 10 June 2017 . BBC News.
  31. 15 June 2015 . Who nominated who for the 2015 Labour leadership election? . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180628072303/https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/06/who-nominated-who-2015-labour-leadership-election . 28 June 2018 . 8 September 2015 . New Statesman.
  32. News: Youle . Emma . 30 October 2015 . £1.3million expense bill for Tower Hamlets MPs: What do they spend and why? . East London Advertiser.
  33. News: 15 April 2016 . UK prime minister appoints Rushanara Ali MP as trade envoy for Bangladesh . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170403111032/http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2016/04/15/uk-prime-minister-appoints-rushanara-ali-mp-as-trade-envoy-for-bangladesh . 3 April 2017 . 2 April 2017 . . Bangladesh.
  34. News: 17 April 2016 . UK's trade envoy appointment shows the way . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160622220546/http://www.dhakatribune.com/editorial/2016/apr/17/uks-trade-envoy-appointment-shows-way . 22 June 2016 . 2 April 2017 . . Dhaka.
  35. News: 15 April 2016 . Rushanara selected UK trade envoy for Bangladesh . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170403110502/http://en.prothom-alo.com/bangladesh/news/101709/Rushanara-selected-UK-trade-envoy-for-Bangladesh . 3 April 2017 . 2 April 2017 . . Bangladesh.
  36. News: 15 April 2016 . Rushanara Ali made British trade envoy for Bangladesh . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160525114244/http://newsnextbd.com/rushanara-ali-made-british-trade-envoy-for-bangladesh/ . 25 May 2016 . 2 April 2017 . Newsnextbd.com . Bangladesh.
  37. Web site: 2016-07-21 . Full list of MPs and MEPs backing challenger Owen Smith . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20190715214543/https://labourlist.org/2016/07/which-mps-and-meps-have-nominated-owen-smith/ . 15 July 2019 . 2019-07-15 . LabourList . en-GB.
  38. News: 29 June 2016 . London MPtells Jeremy Corbyn: Do the decent thing and quit . Evening Standard.
  39. Bush . Stephen . 8 February 2017 . House of Commons votes to trigger Article 50 by 494 to 122: the full list of Labour rebels . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20190902215416/https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2017/02/house-commons-votes-trigger-article-50-494-122-full-list-labour-rebels . 2 September 2019 . 30 October 2019 . New Statesman.
  40. News: 9 June 2017 . Ealing Central & Acton Parliamentary constituency . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170612091827/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000674 . 12 June 2017 . 9 June 2017 . BBC News.
  41. News: De Peyer . Robin . 9 June 2017 . Bethnal Green and Bow election results: Labour's Rushanara Ali wins . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170612005752/http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/bethnal-green-and-bow-election-results-who-is-the-mp-for-the-constituency-after-the-general-election-a3546986.html . 12 June 2017 . 9 June 2017 . . London.
  42. News: Cooke . Phoebe . 9 June 2017 . Election 2017: Labour hold in Tower Hamlets as Conservatives lose majority . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170609103247/http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/seasonal/election/election-2017-labour-hold-in-tower-hamlets-as-conservatives-lose-majority-1-5054650 . 9 June 2017 . 9 June 2017 . East London Advertiser.
  43. News: Brooke . Mike . 14 March 2018 . Suspect package sent to Bethnal Green & Bow MP Rushanara Ali and three other Muslim MPs . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180401213421/http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/politics/suspect-package-sent-to-bethnal-green-bow-mp-rushanara-ali-and-four-other-muslim-mps-1-5432744 . 1 April 2018 . 1 April 2018 . . London.
  44. News: 13 March 2018 . Third MP gets Islamophobic letter . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180405050907/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43387152 . 5 April 2018 . 1 April 2018 . BBC News.
  45. News: Elgot . Jessica . 13 March 2018 . Four Muslim MPs receive suspicious packages at Westminster . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20180401213735/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/mar/13/police-investigate-new-suspicious-package-sent-mp-rupa-huq-westminster . 1 April 2018 . 1 April 2018 . The Guardian.
  46. Web site: 12 June 2018 . MPs not border guards - pledge signatories . Global Justice Now.
  47. Web site: Meet the UK team - Executive Committee . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20190309234805/https://britishamericanproject.org/about-bap/meet-the-uk-team/ . 9 March 2019 . 9 April 2019 . British-American Project.
  48. Web site: Rodgers . Sienna . 25 March 2020 . 76 Labour MPs urge pause on 'no recourse to public funds' migrant status . LabourList.
  49. News: Boyle . Cash . 27 March 2020 . Victoria Park closure provokes huge criticism from Tower Hamlets residents . East London Advertiser.
  50. News: 11 March 2021 . Rushanara Ali: 'End of distressing period' for MP after 'stream of abuse' . 12 March 2021 . BBC News.
  51. Web site: 11 November 2022 . MPs and Lords Registered Interests Rushanara Ali . 25 April 2023 . members.parliament.uk.
  52. Web site: 20 January 2023 . Press conference: British Parliamentarians travel to Kazakhstan as part of investigation into the treatment and detention of Zhanbolat Mamay . Bindmans LLP.
  53. Web site: Belger . Tom . 2023-09-05 . Labour reshuffle: Starmer unveils six new shadow ministers of state . 2023-09-06 . . en-GB.
  54. Web site: Ali . Rushanara . 28 October 2023 . Rushanara Ali MP Statement on Israel and Gaza . 2023-11-05 . Rushanara Ali MP . en.
  55. News: Butt . Maira . 2023-11-15 . Mosques condemn Labour MPs for failing to vote for Gaza ceasefire as protesters march on office . The Independent.
  56. Web site: Ross . Alex . 2024-03-03 . Five Labour MPs under pressure at the general election due to Muslim voters' anger over war in Gaza . .
  57. Web site: 2024-07-05 . Bethnal Green and Stepney results . BBC.
  58. Web site: 1970-01-01 . Parliamentary Supporters . 2024-06-05 . LFPME.

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