44 Facts About Rehman Chishti

Atta-Ur-Rehman Chishti was born on 4 October 1978 and is a Pakistani-born British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Gillingham and Rainham since 2010.

Rehman Chishti served under Theresa May as both the Vice Chair of the Conservative Party for Communities in 2018 and the Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to Pakistan from 2017 to 2018.

Rehman Chishti served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for North America, Sanctions and Consular Policy from July to September 2022.

Rehman Chishti was one of 11 candidates in the July 2022 leadership contest to replace Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister.

Rehman Chishti's father left Pakistan in 1978 to take up a post as an Imam in the UK; soon after, Bhutto was overthrown by a military coup by General Zia-ul-Haq, who later executed Bhutto.

Rehman Chishti did not see his father for the first six years of his life.

Rehman Chishti played cricket for his school and for Medway District and Kent Schools.

Rehman Chishti read law at University of Wales Aberystwyth, followed by Inns of Court School of Law where he did his Barrister's vocational course.

Rehman Chishti was called to the Bar of England and Wales by Lincoln's Inn in 2001.

Rehman Chishti undertook pupillage at Goldsmith Chambers and was taken on as a tenant.

Rehman Chishti prosecuted and defended cases in the Magistrates' and Crown courts.

Rehman Chishti has appeared in the Court of Appeal: R v R [2007] EWCA Crim 3312; Attorney General's Reference, R v May [2005] All ER 359.

Rehman Chishti is an Honorary Door Tenant at Red Lion Chambers.

In September 2004 in a meeting in Islamabad with Mark Lyall Grant, the then High Commissioner to Pakistan, Rehman Chishti, acting on behalf of Benazir Bhutto, committed Bhutto to talks with the Government of Pakistan for the transition to democracy with the United Kingdom acting as the facilitators.

Rehman Chishti followed this up by attending every meeting Bhutto had with British diplomats, both in Dubai and London, including the British Foreign Office in London accompanying Bhutto and acting on her behalf.

At the 2005 general election, Rehman Chishti stood as the Labour Party candidate for the Horsham constituency.

Rehman Chishti later joined the Conservative Party, and was selected as the candidate for the marginal seat of Gillingham and Rainham, whose predecessor seat of Gillingham had been held by Labour by less than 300 votes in 2005.

Rehman Chishti was elected as a Labour member for Gillingham North ward on Medway Council in 2003.

Rehman Chishti was appointed to the Medway Council's Cabinet in 2007 as the Member for Community Safety and Enforcement, becoming the youngest Cabinet Member in Medway's history.

Rehman Chishti served as an Adviser to Francis Maude on diversity when Maude was Chairman of the Conservative Party in 2006.

Rehman Chishti was elected Member of Parliament for Gillingham and Rainham in 2010 at the age of 31.

In 2011, Rehman Chishti was listed by the BBC as one of the most frequent speakers in Parliament from the intake of 2010.

In 2013, Rehman Chishti was named parliamentarian of the year by the road safety charity Brake for his work in Parliament championing road safety issues, including persuading the government to adopt his private members bill to increase the sentence for those who cause death by driving, when then the motorist had been banned from driving at the time of the offence.

Rehman Chishti has campaigned for the release of Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five who has been accused of blasphemy in Pakistan.

In October 2014, Rehman Chishti authored a letter, signed by 54 MPs from across Parliament, sent to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, and the Chief Justice, Nasir-ul-Mulk, calling for an urgent review of her case.

Rehman Chishti has campaigned to improve care for people with mental health problems and has introduced two Private Members Bills in Parliament.

Rehman Chishti was a Member of the Justice Select Committee of the House of Commons, having previously been a Member of the Joint Committee of the Human Rights Committee.

Rehman Chishti is passionate about sports and has served as the parliamentary fellow for Sport England, and is currently the parliamentary fellow for The Football Association.

In July 2014, Rehman Chishti was made Parliamentary Private Secretary to Nick Gibb, the Minister of State for Education.

In 2015, Rehman Chishti was awarded the Conservative Party People's Choice MP of the Year Award from the Patchwork Foundation for his community engagement work and was named in second place by readers of the ConservativeHome blog in their Parliamentarian of the Year 2015.

Rehman Chishti led the campaign to give Asia Bibi asylum in the UK and in November 2018 authored a letter signed by 125 parliamentarians from across the house calling on the Government to offer her asylum.

Rehman Chishti assumed the role in a time of renewed focus on international religious freedom, with the United States Government under the leader of US Vice President Michael Pence and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo initiating the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom.

Rehman Chishti was tasked with implementing the recommendations in the Bishop of Truro's Report on Persecuted Christians, as well as championing a firm stance on Freedom of Religion or Belief for all, which was a top priority for the Government, as made clear by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson in response to a question by Rehman Chishti during a Commons debate in October 2019.

Rehman Chishti provided Government with advice on how best to deliver on recommendation 20 of the Truro Report, in securing a UN Security Council Resolution on FoRB, as well as advising Government to host a ministerial conference on FoRB.

On 15 September 2020, Rehman Chishti resigned as special envoy on freedom of religion or belief in protest at the Internal Market Bill.

On 10 July 2022 Rehman Chishti announced his bid to succeed Boris Johnson in the Conservative Party leadership election.

Rehman Chishti withdrew two days later, having failed to win the support of any other Conservative MPs, before endorsing Tom Tugendhat and subsequently Rishi Sunak.

Rehman Chishti was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for North America, Sanctions and Consular Policy by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in July 2022, but was sacked by Liz Truss when she succeeded him in September 2022.

Rehman Chishti resigned his post as Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief on 14 September 2020 in opposition to the Government's suggestion that it could breach international law on the withdrawal agreement's protocol on Northern Ireland.

Key aspects of Rehman Chishti's Bill were adopted by the Government in January 2018.

Rehman Chishti's Bill has the support of a wide range of animal charities including Cats Protection, Cats Matter, the Battersea Dog and Cat Home, and Animals Lost and Found in Kent.

In December 2018, Rehman Chishti held a debate in Westminster Hall on Cat Welfare which was supported by MPs from across the House.

Rehman Chishti is a practising Muslim and the son of an Imam.

Rehman Chishti took his first oath of allegiance on a Quran with the Torah and the King James Bible placed on the Despatch Box to show reverence to other faiths.