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Shahid Malik (born 24 November 1967) is a British Labour politician and Member of Parliament. He is MP for the West Yorkshire constituency of Dewsbury. Along with fellow Labour MP Sadiq Khan, he is the first British-born Muslim to be elected to the House of Commons. In June 2007 he became the first Muslim to serve as a Minister in the British government.

Early career

On leaving school Shahid worked with the East Lancashire Training and Enterprise Council, working on business development - a career which eventually took him to the job of chief executive of Haringey Regeneration Agency in north London.

Shahid was little known in Labour circles until he was elected to the Labour Party's National Executive Committee (NEC) (the first non-white person to hold that position) at his first attempt in 2000. Prominent left winger, Mark Seddon, then editor of Tribune, was defeated in the same election, and it claimed by Shahid's supporters that this motivated numerous Tribune diary stories targeting Shahid .

Burnley Riots

Shahid shot to national prominence in June 2001 during the riots in his hometown, Burnley in Lancashire. His father, Rafique (former Mayor), was Deputy Mayor of the town at the time. Whilst trying to calm the crowds of British Asian youths who had been confronting the police in anger over BNP demonstrations in the town, Malik was beaten by the police, handcuffed and arrested. The event was caught on television cameras and images of Shahid, his face covered in blood, were broadcast nationally. Shahid took great offence, asking why someone attempting to intervene helpfully was treated so aggressively . In December 2001, Shahid publicly criticised then Home Secretary, David Blunkett, for his comments on immigrants, which Shahid felt could increase support for the far-right .

Standing for Parliament

Shahid had hoped to be selected in Burnley where Peter Pike had indicated he was standing down. However, the National Executive Committee decided that this Constituency Labour Party should have an all-women shortlist , leading to complaints from his supporters and the Muslim community who have generally had great hopes for Shahid . Shahid, however, responded to the decision by writing an article in The Guardian reafirrming his support for the policy of all-women shortlists. He stood for selection in Brent East after Labour lost the 2003 by-election but was controversially left off the shortlist, despite winning more nominations and votes than other candidates - indeed Shahid had more votes than the sum of the votes of two male candidates (Robert Evans and Raj Jethwa) who went on to be shortlisted. Insults were traded that the selection had been 'stitched-up' for Evans, the by-election candidate; however, Yasmin Qureshi went on to win the Brent East selection but then failed to regain the safe Labour seat at the general election in May 2005.

On 30th November 2006, the New Statesman 'revealed' that Labour peer, Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, campaigned for the Tories during the Dewsbury election in 2005. Ahmed is said to have backed Sayeeda Warsi, vice-chair of the Conservative Party, a personal friend. According to the New Statesman's report, Warsi "welcomed Lord Ahmed's support".

Palestine, Lebanon and the War in Iraq

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Shahid served as an international election monitor of for the Palestinian Presidential elections in 2005 and Parliamentary elections in January 2006.

He has also written articles on the Holocaust and been a supporter of the UK’s Holocaust Memorial Day – remembering the Nazi genocide. He has also given talks across the UK alongside one of the world’s best known Holocaust survivors, Eva Schloss, the step-sister of famous war diarist Anne Frank.

The London Evening Standard suggested that Shahid had overstated his opposition to the war in Iraq in an attempt to be selected in Brent East. He complained to the Press Complaints Commission over these newspaper reports which were subsequently retracted acknowledging Shahid had on numerous occasions expressed opposition previously, including on national news and at the Labour party Annual conference.

In August 2006, as a Parliamentary private secretary, he was the most senior British Parliamentarian to sign an open letter to Tony Blair criticising the UK's foreign policy following the invasion of Lebanon.

Later in 2006, he visited the bombed areas of Lebanon and expressed his disgust at Israeli targeting of civilian areas. On his return to the UK he raised the issue in Parliament where he asked the Foreign Secretary: "Is my right hon. Friend aware that, according to the Mines Advisory Group and a cross-party group that was in Lebanon last month, some 32.7 million sq m of land are infected and contaminated by cluster munitions? According to the Mines Advisory Group, if the Israelis were to give it grid references for the 1.2 million bombs that were let loose in the last three days of action, instead of three children dying a day, as is the case, the number would, it hopes, be much less. Will he use his good offices to ensure that we put sufficient pressure on the Israeli Government to move forward on this important issue?"

Constituency M.P.

Shahid is regarded as having the toughest constituency in the country - having both the highest BNP vote in the UK and at the same time being home to the lead suicide bomber on the 7th July, Mohammed Siddique Khan. He has been an outspoken critic of extremism and terrorism as well as the right-wing BNP. He is respected for being fair and honest on tough issues, being at the forefront in encouraging Muslims to integrate into British society and to go beyond condemning extremism and confronting them. He also opposed a Muslim teacher a Dewsbury primary school who claimed she was being discriminated against because she was not allowed to wear a veil while teaching children as young as 6 years old. She subsequently lost her case at an employment tribunal. He has also called for the swift removal of failed asylum seekers in order to ease community tension in his constituency.

Significant Non-Political Roles

Shahid has had a number of significant national roles prior to being involved in politics. These roles include:

5.1 National Chair of the Urban Forum: Elected annually via 450+ member organisations - a renowned national regeneration policy network made up of residents and community organisations , with the aim of pushing power to local people in deprived neighbourhoods.

5.2 Commissioner to the Northern Ireland Equality Commission: Appointed by then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Mo Mowlam as the only Great British Commissioner (1999-2002) to the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, which was born out of the 'Good Friday Peace Agreement' – dealing with equalities issues between Catholics & Protestants, Unionists & Nationalists, and discrimination by race, gender, disability, sexuality, age.

5.3 Commissioner for Racial Equality, Great Britain: Law enforcement agency under the Race Relations act 1976 working to eliminate racial discrimination across Great Britain.

5.4 Chief Executive of Haringey Regeneration Agency: Leading a £100 + million programme to create employment, reduce crime, bring derelict land back into usage and improve education standards.

5.5 Vice-Chair of United Nations body, UNESCO UK: Working to engage UK civic society in UNESCO's work in contributing to world peace, security, justice and human rights, by promoting collaboration between nations on educational, scientific, cultural and communications projects.

5.6 Independent Governor of Sheffield Hallam University

5.7 Member, Queen Mary University Policy Advisory Board

5.8 Government Adviser on Community Cohesion and Neighbourhood Renewal

Parliamentary Jobs

6.1 Shahid was elected as the Member of Parliament for Dewsbury in May 2005 and became the only newly elected Labour MP to be placed on the powerful Home Affairs Select Committee.

6.2 In December 2005 he won the prestigious House Magazine 'Best Maiden Speech of the Parliament' award which is regarded as the Parliamentary Oscars. The award is made once every four years and Shahid beat off over 100 other new MPs.

6.3 In January 2006 he became the Parliamentary ' Pool Champion ' – with the title came £1500 which he donated to local charities and causes in his constituency.

6.4 In February 2006 he was runner-up in the 'Channel Four News Rising Star Awards'.

6.5 In the Government reshuffle in May 2006 Shahid was promoted to the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Schools Minister. .

6.6 In June 29th 2007 Shahid made british history when appointed a minister in the Department for International Development, making him Britain's first Muslim Minister.

London bombings

Since the London bombings of 7 July 2005, Malik has played a prominent role as one of the public faces of Muslim leadership in the UK. He has spoken in criticism of some of the responses to the bombings, and some of the suggestions of what needs to be done. He was invited to join a national working group of key Muslim leaders seeking answers to the bombings. He has called not just for internal reform within Muslim communities, but also for the rest of society to help tackle poverty and isolation of minority groups.

External links

• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Shahid Malik MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Shahid Malik MP
• BBC story on Burnley riots 26 June 2001
• Transcript of maiden speech to the House of Commons

• 1967 births
• Living people
• British Asian politicians
• Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies
• Commissioners for Racial Equality
• Labour MPs (UK)
• British Muslims
• British Pakistanis
• UK MPs 2005-