Naz Shah

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Naz Shah
MP
Naz Shah, 2015 (portrait).jpg
Member of Parliament
for Bradford West
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Majority 11,420 (28.4%)
Personal details
Born (1973-11-13) 13 November 1973 (age 51)
Bradford, England
Alma mater University of Bradford
Religion Islam

Naseem "Naz" Shah (Urdu: نسیم شاہ‎; born 13 November 1973[1]) is a far-left British politician and Member of Parliament. She was elected at the 2015 general election as the MP for the constituency of Bradford West after her selection as the Labour Party candidate and gained the seat from George Galloway of the Respect Party.[2] In April 2016, she was suspended from the Labour Party following the emergence of a Facebook post she had shared supporting the relocation of Israel to the US.[3]

Early life and career

Born in Bradford,[4] Shah was abandoned by her father when six years old after he ran off with their neighbour's sixteen-year-old daughter. At age 12, she was sent to Pakistan to avoid her mother, Zoora's, violent partner, whom Zoora fatally poisoned because she believed he was planning to sexually abuse her daughters. She served 14 years in prison for his murder. While in Pakistan, Shah was forced into an arranged marriage.[4][5]

Before being elected as an MP, Shah was the chair of mental health charity, Sharing Voices Bradford, and had previously worked as a carer for disabled people, as an NHS Commissioner and a director for a regional association supporting local councils.[6] She has said that she voted for George Galloway at the Bradford West by-election in 2012.[7][8]

Election campaign in 2015

Shah won the Bradford West constituency with a majority of 11,420 over George Galloway in May 2015. She was chosen to stand for the Labour party in March 2015 after the original candidate had stood down.[2][9] On 10 May 2015, Galloway announced an intention to challenge the result, alleging that false statements and malpractice related to postal votes during the campaign meant that the result of the election should be set aside,[10] but did not launch a legal challenge.[11]

In July 2015 Jeremy Corbyn commenting on how Galloway had acted during the election said "I thought the tactics he used against our candidate, were appalling. I was quite shocked; it was appalling."[12]

Resignation as John McDonnell's PPS

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Naz Shah was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, in February 2016.[13]

Amidst an ongoing controversy in the Labour Party about antisemitism, Shah was discovered by blogger Paul Staines in April 2016 to have reposted a Facebook meme in August 2014 supporting the relocation of Israel to the USA.[14] Shah also commented on the post, suggesting the plan might "save them some pocket money".[15] In July 2014, she wrote on Facebook about a newspaper poll concerning alleged Israeli war crimes in the Gaza conflict that "The Jews are rallying to the poll" and in September appeared to compare Israeli policies to those of Adolf Hitler.[16] Shah asserted that her views on Israel had moderated in the 20 months since the post and on 26 April 2016 she resigned from her unpaid post as John McDonnell's PPS[17] while still holding her seat on the Home Affairs Select Committee investigating the rise of antisemitism in the UK. She was suspended by the Labour Party on 27 April 2016,[3] forfeiting all roles.

"Shah's apologies appeared to be heartfelt. She seemed genuinely contrite", wrote John Rentoul in The Independent. "If she has seen the error of her ways, then the best way to try to persuade others that anti-Semitism is wrong might be to enlist her to the cause, not cast her to the outer darkness."[18] Henry Zeffman of the Evening Standard similarly wrote that Shah had in her apology "showed a genuine engagement with the anti-Semitism that has found a happy home on parts of the left, and a desire to stamp it out."[19]

In an interview with Vanessa Feltz, former London mayor Ken Livingstone said that while Shah's comments were "over the top", they were not antisemitic. He was also suspended from Labour for "bringing the party into disrepute" as a result of remarks made during that interview, which included a claim that "when Hitler won his election in 1932, his policy then was that Jews should be moved to Israel. He was supporting Zionism – this before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews".[20][21]

References

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  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Helen Pidd "Deadline expires for legal challenge over George Galloway election defeat", The Guardian, 4 June 2015
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Bradford West
2015–present		 Incumbent
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