Zarah Sultana

Zarah Sultana (born 31 October 1993) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Coventry South since the 2019 general election.

Zarah Sultana

MP
Member of Parliament
for Coventry South
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byJim Cunningham
Majority401 (0.9%)
Personal details
Born (1993-10-31) 31 October 1993
West Midlands, England
NationalityBritish
Political partyLabour
Other political
affiliations		Socialist Campaign Group
Alma materUniversity of Birmingham
Websitezarahsultana.com

Early life and education

Sultana was born on 31 October 1993[1][2] in the West Midlands and raised in Lozells, Birmingham. She is a Muslim and is of Pakistani origin: her grandfather migrated from Kashmir to Birmingham in the 1960s.[3]

She attended Holte School, a non-selective community school.[4] Sultana then studied at King Edward VI Handsworth School, a grammar school, for sixth form.[4] She then went on to study International Relations and Economics at the University of Birmingham.[5]

She joined the Labour Party in 2011, whilst doing her A-levels, following the coalition government's decision to treble university tuition fees to £9,000.[6][7] While at university, Sultana was elected to the National Executive Council of both Young Labour and the National Union of Students.[8]

Parliamentary career

Sultana was listed fifth of seven among the Labour candidates for the 2019 European Parliament elections in the West Midlands constituency, meaning that she would be elected if Labour received enough votes in the region to receive 5 MEPs. She was not elected, as Labour won 1 MEP in the constituency.[9][10]

In October 2019, she was selected as the Labour candidate for Coventry South[1] after Labour MP Jim Cunningham announced that he would stand down.[11] Her campaign was backed by Unite the Union, Momentum, the Fire Brigades Union, the Communication Workers Union and Bakers, Food and Allied Workers' Union. She is on the left-wing of the party.[1] She was elected as MP for Coventry South in the 2019 general election, with a majority of 401.[12]

In her maiden speech, she decried what she called "40 years of Thatcherism", criticised the effects of austerity, and voiced her support for a Green New Deal to combat climate change.[6][13] She joined the Socialist Campaign Group shortly after being elected[14] and in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election, nominated Rebecca Long-Bailey for leader and Richard Burgon for deputy leader.[15][16]

In December 2020, UNICEF announced that it would provide £25,000 to the charity School Food Matters so that vulnerable children and families in Southwark could be supplied with thousands of breakfast boxes over the Christmas school holidays. In parliament Sultana said that it was the first time UNICEF had been required to "feed working-class kids in the UK. But while children go hungry, a wealthy few enjoy obscene riches". She mentioned that Jacob Rees-Mogg is "reportedly in line to receive an £800,000 dividend payout this year". Rees-Mogg criticised UNICEF's action and called it "a political stunt of the lowest order". Sultana then sent Rees-Mogg a copy of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, writing inside "Jacob, it seems this wasn’t on Eton’s reading list. Merry Christmas, Zarah".[17][18]

In January 2020, Sultana was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Dan Carden, the Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.[19] She was removed from this role by Keir Starmer when he became leader.[20]

In January 2021, Sultana called for prisoners to be prioritised for Covid-19 vaccinations as she described them as a "a high risk setting for transmission" and as such it would be a "humane approach to a completely disenfranchised population".[21]

Controversies

During the campaign, The Jewish Chronicle reported that in 2015, while she was a student, Sultana made social media posts from a subsequently deleted account which implied that she would celebrate the deaths of former Labour prime minister Tony Blair, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former US president George W. Bush and she supported "violent resistance" by Palestinians.[8] Sultana apologised for the posts and stated that she no longer held those views and "wrote them out of frustration rather than any malice".[22][23] The Labour Party re-interviewed her as a consequence of the posts, and she remained the candidate.[24] Subsequent to her election, a further social media post made by Sultana in 2015 was reported in which she stated that students supporting Zionism were "advocating a racist ideology...and champion[ing] a state created through ethnic cleansing, sustained through occupation, apartheid and war crimes."[25]

References
  1. Rodgers, Sienna (1 November 2019). "Labour organiser Zarah Sultana picked to fight Coventry South". LabourList.
  2. Sultana, Zarah [@zarahsultana] (11 April 2019). "Way to overshadow my birthday guys" (Tweet). Retrieved 15 January 2020 – via Twitter.
  3. "For the first time ever, British parliament has more female Muslim MPs than male Muslim members | World | thenews.com.pk |".
  4. Stretton, Rachel (3 December 2019). "Coventry South election candidate in the spotlight". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  5. "About". Zarah Sultana MP. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  6. Segalov, Michael (23 January 2020). "Zarah Sultana MP: 'When I See Conservatives, I Think About All the Harm They've Caused'". Vice. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  7. Sultana, Zarah (23 January 2020). "'The future is ours – it has to be': MP Zarah Sultana sets out her mission for change". gal-dem. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  8. Harpin, Lee (4 November 2019). "Exclusive: Labour MP hopeful said she would 'celebrate' deaths of Blair, Netanyahu". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  9. "2019 European elections: List of candidates for the West Midlands| BBC News". BBC. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  10. "The UK's European elections 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  11. "Mr Jim Cunningham". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  12. "Coventry South". BBC News. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  13. "New Coventry MP Sultana, 26, uses first Commons speech to fire broadside for 'my generation'". Coventry Observer. 16 January 2020. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  14. @zarahsultana (22 January 2020). "Proud to be in the Socialist Campaign Group meeting today for its official endorsement of @RLong_Bailey for Leader and @RichardBurgon for Deputy Leader. Now let's get these socialists elected! pic.twitter.com/2wndXTOOyU" (Tweet). Retrieved 2 February 2020 – via Twitter.
  15. "Rolling list: MP/MEP nominations for Labour leadership candidates". LabourList. 8 January 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  16. "Rolling list: MP/MEP nominations for Labour deputy leadership candidates". LabourList. 8 January 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  17. Sleigh, Sophia (18 December 2020). "Rees-Mogg branded 'Scrooge' over controversial Unicef comments". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  18. "MP sends the perfect Christmas gift to Jacob Rees-Mogg after Speaker's warning". The National. 19 December 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  19. @zarahsultana (28 January 2020). "I'm excited to join the Shadow International Development team, as @DanCardenMP's Parliamentary Private Secretary! The struggle to build a sustainable world for all – not just the super-rich – is close to my heart. That's the role Britain should be playing on the global stage" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. Rodgers, Sienna (9 April 2020). "Shadow ministers appointed as Starmer completes frontbench". LabourList. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  21. "'Prisoners should get priority for jabs' – MP – insidetime & insideinformation". Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  22. "Labour Coventry South candidate Zarah Sultana apologises for 'celebrate deaths' post". BBC News. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  23. Bond, Daniel (16 December 2019). "Class of 2019: Meet the new MPs". Politics Home. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  24. Stretton, Rachel (18 November 2019). "Coventry Labour candidate faces 're-interview' over tweets". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  25. Harpin, Lee (24 January 2020). "Labour MP Zarah Sultana told student that 'privilege' allowed them to argue for Middle East peace". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Jim Cunningham		 Member of Parliament
for Coventry South
2019–present		 Incumbent
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