First Three Muslim Women MPs elected in Britain
11th May 2010

Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South East), Shabana Mahmood (Birmingham Ladywood) - pictured left, and Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) have become the first three Muslim women MPs elected in Britain. All three, who were standing on behalf of The Labour Party, won comfortable a majority in their constituency. The Muslim Council of Britain called it a “momentous day for British Politics”. Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain said: “At this stage, it is time we applaud all those who have won seats, and commiserate with those who were not as successful. Yet with such large turnouts reported, this is a success for all of us and our democratic culture.

"It is time to also to reflect on the message from the electorate. With no decisive result, we hope our leaders will use this opportunity to change and revitalise our politics. We pray that our leaders make wise choices in the formation of a new government for the national interest.” Dr Bari added "I also congratulate Mr David Cameron for gaining the highest number of seats. It would seem that all of our leaders now have the heavy responsibility of forming a stable and strong government and leading our nation."

About Yasmin Qureshi

Yasmin Qureshi is a British Labour politician and criminal barrister, who was elected the Member of Parliament for Bolton South East at the May 2010 general election with 47.4% share and 18,782 votes. Qureshi was born in Jhelum, Pakistan and moved to the UK when she was nine.

Yasmin was called to Bar in 1985 and worked in criminal law, both in prosecution and defence exclusively in the Crown Court. Previously she had worked as a special case lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service where she reviewed and advised on all types of criminal cases ranging from murder to fraud. Yasmin has also worked on extradition cases and for past 20 years has done voluntary legal work.

After the NATO bombings of Kosovo in 1999 Yasmin was asked in 2001 to lead and put together a department of judicial administration to build the criminal justice system and judicial administration for the country. Since this time much work has been done and systems put in place by Yasmin and her staff. An exit strategy was made for her team so the people of Kosovo could be recruited to run the systems that have been put in place.

Yasmin became a human rights advisor to the Mayor of London (working with all racial and religious communities living in London on issues of gender inequality, racism and homophobia.)

Yasmin first joined the Labour Party at the age of sixteen. In 2005 General Election she was the Parliamentary candidate for Brent East and has held all main constituency posts. She is a member of the Fabian Society and was chair of Watford and District arm of the society. Yasmin is also a governor for two schools and lives with her disabled mother.

About Shabana Mahmood

Shabana Mahmood was born and raised in Birmingham, England and is the daughter of the Birmingham Labour party's chairman. She went to a secondary school in Ladywood constituency and studied at Oxford University, before becoming a barrister.

Shabana lives in the Ladywood area and won 55.7% share (19,950 votes) double those of her nearest Liberal Democrat rival.

About Rushanara Ali

Rushnara Ali, standing for the Labour Party, has defeated her rivals gaining 42.9% of the Bethnal Green and Bow vote with 21,784 votes, more than double those of her nearest Liberal Democrat rival. She is the first person of Bangladeshi origin to have been elected to Parliament.

Rushanara Ali was born in Bangladesh in 1975. With her family, she moved to the East End of London in the United Kingdom at the age of 7, where Rushanara attended Mulberry School and Tower Hamlets College. Growing up in Tower Hamlets, her father was a manual worker. The first in her family to go to university, she studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of Oxford.

Rushanar 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 also helped to develop “Language Line”, a national telephone interpreting service in over 100 languages. From 1997-1999 she was a Parliamentary Assistant to Oona King, the then MP for Bethnal Green and Bow.

She worked on human rights issues at the Foreign Office from 2000-2001. Prior to this, she was a Research Fellow at the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) focusing on anti-discrimination issues from 1999-2002. From 2002-2005, Rushanara 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. Since 2005, she has worked as Associate Director of the Young Foundation in Bethnal Green, a thinktank focused on social innovation.

In April 2007, Rushanara was chosen as the Labour Party's prospective Parliamentary candidate for Bethnal Green and Bow and was preceded by The Respect Party’s George Galloway.