22 Facts About Piara Khabra

Piara Singh Khabra was a Punjabi-British Labour politician who served as Member of Parliament for Ealing Southall from 1992 until his death.

Piara Khabra was the fifth British Asian, and the first Sikh, to become a British MP.

Piara Singh Khabra was born into a Punjabi Sikh farming family of the Khabra clan in the Punjab Province of British India.

Piara Khabra gave his year of birth as 1924, but his marriage certificate dated it as 1921.

Piara Khabra joined the Communist Party of India, and became a teacher in an elementary school.

Piara Khabra requalified in 1964, becoming an elementary teacher and then a social worker.

Piara Khabra became the President of the Indian Workers' Association, which assisted Indian immigrants to establish themselves and find jobs, and was active in opposition to the far right.

Piara Khabra left the Communist Party of Great Britain in the 1960s, and joined the Labour Party in 1972.

Piara Khabra became a justice of the peace in 1977, and was elected as a member of Ealing Council in 1978.

Piara Khabra briefly joined the Social Democratic Party in 1981, leaving two years later and returning to Labour in 1988.

Piara Khabra entered Parliament aged 70 at the 1992 election, the fifth Asian MP and inherited a large majority in the safe Labour seat of Ealing Southall, following Labour's de-selection of the long-serving sitting MP Sydney Bidwell.

Piara Khabra claimed to have the largest caseload of immigration and asylum cases of any MP.

Piara Khabra maintained good attendance and voting records, but very rarely spoke in Parliament.

Piara Khabra said he was proud to speak on the report into the murder of Stephen Lawrence, and on the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000.

Piara Khabra was a strong supporter of people with autism spectrum disorders.

Piara Khabra sponsored one of the most successful early day motions on autism in the 2002 Autism Awareness Year; it was supported by 153 parliamentarians of all parties.

Piara Khabra backed the work of the Autism Awareness Campaign UK.

In 2002, Piara Khabra claimed that the local Somali population was behind a recent crime wave in Southall.

In late 2006, Piara Khabra announced that he would stand down at the next general election.

Piara Khabra died as a result of liver problems on the night of 19 June 2007 at Hammersmith Hospital in White City within Shepherd's Bush, West London; where he had been being treated for abscesses on the liver since April.

Piara Khabra customarily gave his year of birth as 1924; birth registration was not compulsory in the Indian state of Punjab until 1970 and so no birth certificate exists, but on his marriage certificate his year of birth was recorded as 1921.

Piara Khabra was survived by his second wife, Beulah Marian, and his son from his first marriage.