Rushanara Ali
Encyclopedia
Rushanara Ali is a British
Labour Party
politician
and Associate Director of the Young Foundation
, who has been the Member of Parliament
(MP) for Bethnal Green and Bow since 2010. As of October 2010, she has been appointed as part of the shadow team for the Department for International Development
along with Mark Lazarowicz
with Harriet Harman
in charge
in 1975. With her family, Ali immigrated to the East End of London
at the age of 7, where she attended Mulberry School for Girls
and Tower Hamlets College
. Growing up in Tower Hamlets, her father was a manual worker. The first in her family to go to university, Ali studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St. John's College, University of Oxford
.
, offering independent learning programmes for young people aged 11–25. She also helped to develop “Language Line”, a national telephone interpreting service in over 100 languages. Between 1997-1999 she was also Parliamentary Assistant to Oona King
, MP for Bethnal Green and Bow at the time.
She worked on human rights issues at the Foreign Office from 2000-2001. Prior to this, Ali was a Research Fellow at the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) focussing on anti-discrimination issues from 1999-2002. From 2002-2005, Ali worked 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.
Since 2005, Ali has worked as Associate Director of the Young Foundation
in Bethnal Green
, a thinktank focussed on social innovation. She also serves 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.
She has published articles on a variety of political issues in numerous national and local media including The Guardian
, Prospect
magazine and Progress
magazine. Ali has also appeared on Question Time Extra
, BBC Radio 4
's Woman's Hour and Thinking Allowed
. She was listed by The Guardian as one of the most powerful Muslim women in Britain.
for Bethnal Green and Bow, and on 6 May 2010, was elected as a Member of Parliament with a majority of 11,574 votes. She is the first person of Bangladeshi origin to have been elected to the House of Commons and along with Shabana Mahmood
and Yasmin Qureshi
, became one of the United Kingdom
's first female Muslim MPs.
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
and Associate Director of the Young Foundation
Young Foundation
The Young Foundation was launched in the spring of 2006 following the merger of the Institute of Community Studies and the Mutual Aid Centre. It is named after Michael Young, the British sociologist and social activist who created over 60 organisations including the Open University, Which? and...
, who has been the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for Bethnal Green and Bow since 2010. As of October 2010, she has been appointed as part of the shadow team for the Department for International Development
Department for International Development
The Department For International Development is a United Kingdom government department with a Cabinet Minister in charge. It was separated from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1997. The goal of the department is "to promote sustainable development and eliminate world poverty". The current...
along with Mark Lazarowicz
Mark Lazarowicz
Mark Lazarowicz, is a British Labour Co-operative politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Edinburgh North and Leith since 2001...
with Harriet Harman
Harriet Harman
Harriet Ruth Harman QC is a British Labour Party politician, who is the Member of Parliament for Camberwell and Peckham, and was MP for the predecessorPeckham constituency from 1982 to 1997...
in charge
Early life
Rushanara Ali was born in BangladeshBangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
in 1975. With her family, Ali immigrated to the East End of London
East End of London
The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...
at the age of 7, where she attended Mulberry School for Girls
Mulberry School for Girls
Mulberry School for Girls is a single sex community school in the Shadwell ward of the East End of London. Approximately 1400 students aged between 11 and 19 years attend Mulberry school...
and Tower Hamlets College
Tower Hamlets College
Tower Hamlets College is a large further education college in Tower Hamlets, London, England. The college has four different campuses: the largest is on Poplar High Street, about 700m north of Canary Wharf; the others are at Arbour Square, Bethnal Green and the Financial Skills Academy on the East...
. Growing up in Tower Hamlets, her father was a manual worker. The first in her family to go to university, Ali studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St. John's College, University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
.
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 UniversityTower Hamlets Summer University
Tower Hamlets Summer University is a British charity in the Tower Hamlets area of London which offers independent learning programs for people from 11 to 25 years of age...
, offering independent learning programmes for young people aged 11–25. She also helped to develop “Language Line”, a national telephone interpreting service in over 100 languages. Between 1997-1999 she was also Parliamentary Assistant to Oona King
Oona King
Oona Tamsyn King, Baroness King of Bow is a Baroness and Member of the House of Lords, and former Chief Diversity Officer of Channel 4. She previously had served as a Labour Party Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow from 1997 until 2005, when she was defeated by Respect candidate George...
, MP for Bethnal Green and Bow at the time.
She worked on human rights issues at the Foreign Office from 2000-2001. Prior to this, Ali was a Research Fellow at the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) focussing on anti-discrimination issues from 1999-2002. From 2002-2005, Ali worked at the Communities Directorate of the Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
, leading a work programme to mobilise local and national agencies in the aftermath of the 2001 riots in Burnley
Burnley
Burnley is a market town in the Burnley borough of Lancashire, England, with a population of around 73,500. It lies north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Brun....
, Bradford and Oldham, to prevent further conflict and unrest, challenging central Government to provide appropriate support to these areas.
Since 2005, Ali has worked as Associate Director of the Young Foundation
Young Foundation
The Young Foundation was launched in the spring of 2006 following the merger of the Institute of Community Studies and the Mutual Aid Centre. It is named after Michael Young, the British sociologist and social activist who created over 60 organisations including the Open University, Which? and...
in Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green is a district of the East End of London, England and part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, with the far northern parts falling within the London Borough of Hackney. Located northeast of Charing Cross, it was historically an agrarian hamlet in the ancient parish of Stepney,...
, a thinktank focussed on social innovation. She also serves as Chair of Tower Hamlets Summer University
Tower Hamlets Summer University
Tower Hamlets Summer University is a British charity in the Tower Hamlets area of London which offers independent learning programs for people from 11 to 25 years of age...
; a commissioner on the London Child Poverty Commission; Board Member of Tower Hamlets College
Tower Hamlets College
Tower Hamlets College is a large further education college in Tower Hamlets, London, England. The college has four different campuses: the largest is on Poplar High Street, about 700m north of Canary Wharf; the others are at Arbour Square, Bethnal Green and the Financial Skills Academy on the East...
; Trustee of the Paul Hamlyn
Paul Hamlyn
Paul Hamlyn, Baron Hamlyn of Edgeworth, CBE , was a German-born British publisher and philanthropist.-Family:...
Foundation; and member of the Tate Britain
Tate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
Council.
She has published articles on a variety of political issues in numerous national and local media including The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, Prospect
Prospect (magazine)
Prospect is a monthly British general interest magazine, specialising in politics and current affairs. Frequent topics include British, European, and US politics, social issues, art, literature, cinema, science, the media, history, philosophy, and psychology...
magazine and Progress
Progress (organisation)
Progress is a political organisation linked to the Labour Party in the United Kingdom, founded in 1996. It is broadly viewed as supportive of the leadership of the party, being pro-former leader Tony Blair...
magazine. Ali has also appeared on Question Time Extra
Question Time (TV series)
Question Time is a topical debate BBC television programme in the United Kingdom, based on Any Questions?. The show typically features politicians from at least the three major political parties as well as other public figures who answer questions put to them by the audience...
, BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
's Woman's Hour and Thinking Allowed
Thinking Allowed
Thinking Allowed is a radio discussion programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday afternoons between 16:00 and 16:30 and repeated between 00:15 and 00:45 on Monday mornings. It focuses on the latest social science research and is hosted by Laurie Taylor, who was formerly a Professor of...
. She was listed by The Guardian as one of the most powerful Muslim women in Britain.
Parliamentary career
In April 2007, Ali was chosen as the Labour Party's prospective Parliamentary candidateProspective parliamentary candidate
Prospective parliamentary candidate is a term used in British politics to refer to candidates selected by political parties to fight individual constituencies in advance of a general election. This terminology was motivated by the strict limits on the amount of expenses incurred by an actual...
for Bethnal Green and Bow, and on 6 May 2010, was elected as a Member of Parliament with a majority of 11,574 votes. She is the first person of Bangladeshi origin to have been elected to the House of Commons and along with Shabana Mahmood
Shabana Mahmood
Shabana Mahmood is a British Labour Party politician and barrister, who has been the Member of Parliament for Birmingham, Ladywood since the May 2010 general election.-Early life:...
and Yasmin Qureshi
Yasmin Qureshi
Yasmin Qureshi is a British-Pakistani Labour Party politician and a barrister practicing criminal law. She was elected as the Member of Parliament for Bolton South East in the May 2010 general election.-Early life:...
, became one of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's first female Muslim MPs.
External links
- Rushanara Ali MP Official constituency website
- Tower Hamlets Labour Party
- Profile at New StatesmanNew StatesmanNew Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....