UK general election: Indian-origin politicians who made it to the House of Commons | Latest News India
Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has registered a landslide victory in the UK general election with incumbent Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party being dethroned.
In the 650-member House of Commons, four British Indians have also registered their victory. Read more to find out who they are.
Rishi Sunak: The incumbent Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak has retained his seat from northern England, but his Conservative Party conceded defeat in general elections after theLabour Party cruised to victory winning 378 seats.
“To the hundreds of Conservative candidates, thousands of volunteers and millions of voters: Thank you for your hard work, thank you for your support, and thank you for your vote,” wrote Sunak on X (formerly Twitter) after facing the defeat.
The first British Asian prime minister, he previously held two cabinet positions under Boris Johnson, including Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2020 to 2022. Sunak served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond (Yorks) from 2015 to 2024, and has represented Richmond and Northallerton since 2024.
Preet Kaur Gill: A member of the Labour Party, Gill was re-elected from from Birmingham Edgbaston. Earlier, she has served as the Shadow Minister for Primary Care and Public Health.
“A honour and a privilege to be re-elected again as MP for Birmingham Edgbaston. Thank you to everyone who put their trust in me. I will continue to serve the people and place I love,” Gill wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Priti Patel: Former home secretary Priti Patel has retained her Witham seat in Essex, taking 37.2 percent of the vote to beat Labour Party candidate into second place. The politician of Gujarati descent served as Home Secretary from 2019 to 2022. Patel, a member of the Conservative Party, has been an MP for Witham since 2010.
Gagan Mohindra: Born into a Punjabi Hindu family, Mohindra is a member of the Conservative Party. He has been re-elected from South West Herts in the UK general election. Gagan won with 16, 458 votes with Liberal Democrat Sally Symington coming second with 12,002. His parents, both from Punjab, immigrated to the United Kingdom before Mohindra was born. His paternal grandfather served in the British Indian Army.
Kanishka Narayan: A Labour Party member and former Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns lost to Labour’s Kanishka Narayan, who has become Wales’ first MP from a minority ethnic background. Born in India, Narayan moved to Cardiff at age 12. He earned a scholarship to Eton, studied at Oxford and Stanford, and then became a civil servant. Narayan served as a civil servant in the Cabinet Office under David Cameron and in the Environment Department under Liz Truss. He has also worked in the private sector, providing financial advice to businesses. Additionally, Narayan has volunteered with Citizens Advice and The Trussell Trust.
Navendu Mishra: A member of the Labour Party, Mishra has won from Stockport constituency. He had secured the seat in the 2019 elections also. His mother comes from Gorakhpur, while his father is from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. Navendu Mishra has been re-elected as MP with 21,787 votes. This seat has returned a Labour MP in every election since 1992.
Lisa Nandy: A labour party member, Nandy comfortably retained her Wigan seat, which she has held since 2014, with 19,401 votes. The Reform UK candidate, Andy Dawber, came in second with 9,852 votes. It was a dismal night for the Conservatives, with their candidate Henry Mitson receiving only 4,310 votes. She is the daughter of Dipak Nandy, a renowned Kolkata-born academic known for his work in race relations in Britain. A member of the Labour Party, she has represented Wigan since 2010.
Suella Braverman: The Indian-origin politician has won from Fareham and Waterlooville seats. During the last cabinet rejig of Sunak-led government, Braverman had stoked controversy with his statement that Metropolitan Police were lenient with pro-Palestine protesters. However, she was replaced by James Cleverly as interior minister.
A member of the Conservative Party, she served as chair of the European Research Group from 2017 to 2018 and as Attorney General for England and Wales from 2020 to March 2021, and again from September 2021 to 2022. She was the MP for Fareham from 2015 until 2024.
Shivani Raja: Shivani Raja won the Leicester East seat, taking it from the Labour Party. The contest included notable candidates such as former MPs Claude Webbe and Keith Vaz, who ran as Independents.
Raja, a Leicester native, studied at Herrick Primary, Soar Valley College, and Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College. She graduated with First Class Honours in Cosmetic Science from De Montfort University (DMU).Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: The Sikh leader has been re-elected as MP from Slough. In a post on X (foremerly Twitter), he thanked people of Slough for re-electing him. Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi is the first ever turbaned Sikh MP of the British parliament.
