43 Facts About Shahid Malik

Shahid Rafique Malik is a British technology and media industry chairman and former politician.

Shahid Malik lost his seat at the 2010 general election.

Shahid Malik's father Rafique Malik was a district councillor between 1976 and 2006 and a mayor of Burnley, having emigrated from Pakistan in the 1960s.

Shahid Malik attended Barden High School and Burnley Sixth Form Centre before studying Business Studies at the South Bank Polytechnic in London and later attending Durham University.

Shahid Malik was national chair of the voluntary sector body Urban Forum from 1999 to 2002.

Shahid Malik served as a commissioner for racial equality from 1998 to 2002 and an equality commissioner for Northern Ireland from 1999 to 2002.

Shahid Malik served as an independent governor of Sheffield Hallam University from 1995 to 2001 and as vice-chair of the United Nations body, UNESCO UK, from 2000 to 2003.

In 2000, Shahid Malik was elected as the first non-white member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party.

Shahid Malik was re-elected each year until 2005 when he stood down after being elected as an MP.

Shahid Malik sought selection in several seats including Leeds Central and Tottenham.

Shahid Malik then stood for selection in Brent East after Labour lost the 2003 by-election but was left off the shortlist despite having gained the most nominations in the selection process.

In June 2001, Shahid Malik was arrested and allegedly beaten by police during racially motivated riots in Burnley.

Shahid Malik said he had been trying to stop the violence and told the BBC he had been arrested by "very hyped-up" police.

In 2004 Shahid Malik was selected as the Labour candidate in Dewsbury for the 2005 general election.

Shahid Malik served on the Environmental Audit Select Committee until the cabinet reshuffle of May 2006 when he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the then Minister of State for Schools Jim Knight.

Shahid Malik served as an international monitor for the Palestinian Presidential elections in 2005 and Parliamentary elections in January 2006.

Just two months after Shahid Malik was elected to the House of Commons, it was revealed that the leader of the 7 July 2005 London bombings, Mohammad Sidique Khan, came from his Dewsbury constituency.

Shahid Malik described the bombings as "the most profound challenge yet faced by the British Muslim community".

Later Shahid Malik confronted the issue in an article for The Times newspaper.

In October 2006 Shahid Malik garnered national attention when he spoke out in support of the decision to suspend, and later sack, a Muslim teaching assistant from Dewsbury for refusing to remove her veil in the classroom.

In June 2009 Shahid Malik spoke out against comments made by Nicolas Sarkozy after the French President declared the burqa was "not welcome" in France.

Shahid Malik placed an early day motion, which attracted 178 MPs signatures and led to the first picket and strike in the Houses of Parliament and eventually to improved pay and conditions for the cleaners of Parliament.

At the 2010 general election Shahid Malik lost his seat in the House of Commons to Simon Reevell of the Conservative Party.

Shahid Malik commented that the changes "brought in 26,000 extra Tories" from rural areas, including Denby Dale and Kirkburton.

Shahid Malik was responsible for the UK's largest global aid programmes including in India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as the Middle East and North Africa, the rest of Asia, South America and Europe.

Shahid Malik was the UK's Aid Effectiveness Minister working to ensure that the impact of aid was maximised, and gave evidence to the Parliament's International Development Committee on the issue.

Shahid Malik was involved in the transition of Nepal out of civil war into an inclusive democracy.

Shahid Malik signed the UK's first ten-year partnership agreement in the Middle East with the government of Yemen.

Shahid Malik served as an observer to both Palestinian Parliamentary and Presidential elections.

Shahid Malik dealt with local authorities and private sector organisations to develop the Thames Gateway project and was responsible for the appointments of board members on the Olympic Park Legacy Company.

Shahid Malik chaired the Thames Gateway Strategic Partnership which was made up of the council leaders, CEOs and other agencies involved in the project.

Shahid Malik founded an award which was to be presented by the Prime Minister of the day known as the Heroes of the Holocaust award.

On 6 October 2006 Shahid Malik launched a libel case against both The Dewsbury Press editor Danny Lockwood and former Conservative councillor Jonathan Scott over a letter by Mr Scott criticising Labour's tactics following Scott's defeat at the Kirklees council elections in May 2006.

Shahid Malik believing the material amounted to an accusation of racism.

Shahid Malik said, "I am very pleased that after a discussion with Danny Lockwood, he has been able to give me the assurances I required".

Shahid Malik criticised the BBC's decision not to broadcast an appeal by the Disaster and Emergencies Committee to help raise millions of pounds for people in need of food, medicines and shelter following Israel's three-week assault on the Palestinian territory.

Shahid Malik warned that the Corporation's decision would be seen around the world as 'one which inflicts still further misery on the beleaguered and suffering people of Gaza'.

Former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis accused Shahid Malik of having "watered down the policy".

Shahid Malik said Prevent, which includes measures like helping mosques to spot the early signs of extremism in vulnerable youngsters, was too focused on the Muslim community.

Shahid Malik went on: "It is not just about the Muslim, it is actually about everybody in our society having a role to play and we cannot dismiss or underestimate the threat from the far right".

The investigation further ordered that Shahid Malik apologise in writing to the House "for breaching the rules of the House when he was a Member of Parliament and for his failure while still a member to respond sufficiently promptly to the Commissioner's investigation".

On 15 May 2009, Shahid Malik stepped down as justice minister in order to allow the Prime Minister's independent adviser on ministerial interests, Philip Mawer, to investigate accusations in The Daily Telegraph that he had breached the Ministerial Code by accepting preferential rent on his office and home.

In June 2008 Shahid Malik acted against YouTube after supporters of the far-right posted a 39-second video clip warning him not to "mess with the big boys", cutting from a still of the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, to a shot of Shahid Malik covered in blood.