Imran Hussain (British politician)

Imran Hussain (born 7 June 1978) is a British Labour Party politician and a barrister. He became the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Bradford East after gaining the seat from the Liberal Democrats at the 2015 general election.[1] He was re-elected to Parliament in the 2019 General Election.[2]

Imran Hussain

MP
Shadow Minister for Employment Rights
Assumed office
9 April 2020
LeaderSir Keir Starmer
Preceded byPosition Established
Shadow Minister for Justice
In office
3 July 2017 – 9 April 2020
LeaderJeremy Corbyn
Preceded byYasmin Qureshi
Succeeded byLyn Brown
Shadow Minister for International Development
In office
14 January 2016 – 3 July 2017
LeaderJeremy Corbyn
Preceded byMike Kane
Succeeded byRoberta Blackman-Woods
Member of Parliament
for Bradford East
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Preceded byDavid Ward
Majority18,144 (41.1%)
Personal details
Born (1978-06-07) 7 June 1978
Bradford, England
Political partyLabour
Alma materUniversity of Huddersfield
WebsiteOfficial website

Early life

Hussain was born and raised in Bradford, West Yorkshire. He attended local state-funded schools and as a teenager worked in Morrisons supermarket, sweeping floors and stacking shelves.[3]

Political career

Councillor

Hussain was a Labour councillor in the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council having first been elected in 2002.[4] In 2003, Hussain brought forward a motion to Bradford Council opposing the Iraq War.[5]

In 2008, he was elected as Deputy Leader of the Council's Labour Group.[6] In 2010, when Labour took control of the council, he became Deputy Leader of Bradford Council and remained in that position for five years until the 2015 general election when he was elected to the House of Commons.[7]

Following his election to Westminster, Hussain rejected his council allowance, which he was entitled to, stating it was a "principled decision" as it would be wrong "to get two salaries" from public office.[8]

Bradford West by-election

In 2012, Hussain was selected by Labour to contest Bradford West in the by-election caused by the resignation of the Labour incumbent, Marsha Singh, due to "serious illness".[9] George Galloway of the Respect Party chose to stand at this by-election. Shortly before polling day, a leaflet was distributed in the constituency which asserted: "God KNOWS who is a Muslim. And he KNOWS who is not." It continued: "Let me point out to all the Muslim brothers and sisters what I stand for. I, George Galloway, do not drink alcohol and never have. Ask yourself if the other candidate [Imran Hussain] in this election can say that truthfully."[10] The leaflet contained no identifying party logo or indication of the agent or printer, as required by law.[10] Although a connection to the Respect Party candidate was initially denied, it was later confirmed that the document had been approved by Galloway.[11]

The election was unexpectedly won by Galloway with a large majority.[12]

Member of Parliament

In 2014, Bradford East Constituency Labour Party opened its parliamentary selection process. In the final selection meeting held on 1 November 2014, Hussain was chosen over three other candidates, including the President of the Trades Union Congress to become Labour's candidate for the seat.[13] During his 2015 general election campaign for Bradford East, Hussain rejected a £1,000 donation from Tony Blair citing his own opposition to the Iraq War as the reason.[14]

He was subsequently elected to Parliament in 2015 by gaining the seat from David Ward of the Liberal Democrats with a 13.8% swing to Labour and a majority of 7,084.[15]

On 15 May 2015, Hussain was one of 10 newly elected Labour MPs who signed an open letter calling for a Leader of the Labour Party who will not "draw back to the ‘New Labour’ creed of the past" and will oppose austerity.[16]

On 20 July 2015, Hussain was one of 48 Labour MPs who voted against the Welfare Bill and therefore rebelled against the Labour Party's position of abstaining on the vote. He described the bill as "cruel and unfair" and said it would be "attacking hard working families, the poorest and children".[17]

Hussain was one of 36 Labour MPs who nominated Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015.[18] He fully supported Corbyn's leadership campaign.[19] On 14 January 2016, Hussain was appointed Shadow Minister of State for International Development by Jeremy Corbyn.[20] On 3 July 2017, he was appointed Shadow Minister of State for Justice.[21] Hussain nominated Rebecca Long-Bailey as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2020 and nominated Richard Burgon for the deputy leadership.[22][23] On 9 April 2020 he was appointed by Sir Keir Starmer as Shadow Minister of State for Employment Rights.

gollark: Why ever not?
gollark: And ARM is making inroads into laptops and servers.
gollark: Also, people are moving stuff to the cloud even if you don't want them to.
gollark: And newer ARM core designs are pretty good for single core perf.
gollark: Also, RISC-V is more open than x86-64, which is... not.

References
  1. "Bradford East Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  2. "Bradford East parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". BBC News. 19 December 2019. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  3. "Maiden Speech (Imran Hussain)". TheyWorkForYou. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  4. "Bradford Council Election Results". Keighley News. Archived from the original on 29 May 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
  5. "BRADFORD'S NEW MPs: Bradford East's Imran Hussain is supporting calls for leader on the left". Telegraph & Argus. Archived from the original on 13 June 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
  6. "Labour leader fights off challenge". Telegraph & Argus. Archived from the original on 16 June 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
  7. "Val Slater is revealed as new deputy leader of Bradford Council". Telegraph & Argus. Archived from the original on 7 June 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  8. "New Bradford MP rejects his Council allowance because it would be wrong to 'get two salaries'". Telegraph & Argus. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  9. "Bradford West MP Marsha Singh to stand down" Archived 10 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News, 1 March 2012
  10. Gilligan, Andrew (30 March 2012). "A runaway victory for George Galloway – and all praise to Allah". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 3 April 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  11. Pidd, Helen (22 November 2012). "Labour complains to police over leaflet's 'closet racists' claim". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  12. "Bookies lose out in Galloway rout". The Independent. 30 March 2012. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  13. "Latest batch of Labour candidates selected for 2015". LabourList. 5 November 2014. Archived from the original on 6 November 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  14. "£1k Blair donation 'not right' for Imran". Telegraph & Argus. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  15. "Bradford East Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  16. "Newly-elected Labour MPs call for a leader who won't "draw back to New Labour"". LabourList. 15 May 2015. Archived from the original on 20 May 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  17. "Welfare bill: Who are the 48 rebel Labour MPs who voted against it?". The Independent. 21 July 2015. Archived from the original on 23 July 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  18. "Who nominated who for the 2015 Labour leadership election?". New Statesman. 15 June 2015. Archived from the original on 28 June 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  19. Wright, Steve (13 September 2015). "District's new Labour MPs declare support for Jeremy Corbyn". Telegraph & Argus. Bradford. Archived from the original on 26 April 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  20. "Bradford MP appointed to Labour shadow cabinet". ITV News. Archived from the original on 16 January 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  21. "Reshuffle: Twenty MPs Appointed To Labour's Frontbench". LabourList. 3 July 2017. Archived from the original on 3 July 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  22. "Labour Party Leader". The Labour Party.
  23. "Labour Party Deputy Leader Nominations". The Labour Party.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
David Ward		 Member of Parliament
for Bradford East
2015–present		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
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