Ali Miraj

Ali Miraj
Born Mohammad Ali Miraj
October 1974
Residence Bow, London
Nationality British
Education Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School
Alma mater London School of Economics
Occupation Chartered accountant; Infrastructure financier, Part-time DJ
Employer ING Group
Known for Conservative Party parliamentary candidate: Aberavon 2001; Watford 2005
Notable work Contrarian Prize
Board member of Cass Business School Strategy Board 2015-Present; Campaign to Protect Rural England 2009-2014; UK Friends of The Abraham Fund Initiatives 2009-2013
Religion Muslim[1]

Mohammad Ali Miraj (born October 1974)[2] is a British former Conservative Party parliamentary candidate, chartered accountant, and part-time DJ from London.[3]

Political career

Miraj became a councillor in Ruislip Manor in Hillingdon in 1998 aged 23, when he was working as a part-time DJ. He was a councillor until 2002.[4]

In 2001 after the September 11 attacks, Miraj spoke at the 2001 Conservative Party conference in favour of military action in Afghanistan, saying "As a British Muslim I find the [11 September] attacks even more difficult to bear".[5] In 2003 when he was in Conservative Future he supported ID cards being introduced to prevent benefit fraud, but was opposed to random checks.[6] Miraj was an foreign affairs advisor to the Conservative Party from 2001-3;[7] he opposed the 2003 Iraq War, against his party line.[1] He appeared on a Newsnight debate in 2006 about the Middle East during the Lebanon war.[8]

Parliamentary candidate

Miraj was the candidate for Aberavon in the 2001 General Election, coming fourth with 2,296 votes (7.6%).[9] He was the only ethnic minority candidate standing in Wales, when he was described as "a bit of a character, doing passable imitations of then leader William Hague".[10]

He was the candidate for Watford in the 2005 General Election, a marginal seat, coming third with 14,634 (29.6%);[11] The Almanac of British Politics said he "did well not to be squeezed by the other two"[12] and David Aaronovitch called him a "young, energetic DJ with an excellent website and a nimble way with policy".[13] During the campaign Miraj noted that "Muslims are not the flavour of the month right now and we have a massive PR job to do."[14] He said some voters told him they would not vote for him because he was a Muslim.[4]

Miraj applied for three seats of MPs who were retiring in 2010, including Witham in Essex, but felt blocked because of his race, saying Bernard Jenkin told him "Good luck, Ali, but I would be shocked if they didn't pick a white, middle-class male", which Jenkin denied.[4][15][16] Priti Patel was selected; as an Asian woman this went against Miraj's prediction, but he said "This is a bright day for the party and indicative of progress."[17] Miraj was on the candidate list for Watford for the 2010 General Election, Martin Bright calling him "an obvious choice for Cameron's A-list",[18] but Miraj was dropped from the list in July 2007. Although he had been part of party leader David Cameron's 2005 leadership campaign and was on Conservative policy review boards, including that for International and National Security, he criticised Cameron after the party came third in two by-elections, saying "I'm disillusioned because I think substance has been replaced by PR". Miraj was suspended as a candidate the next day; Cameron said Miraj had asked him for a peerage the same day as his criticism, which Miraj said was a smear because Cameron had called the meeting.[19][20][21]

Career

He has worked as an auditor[3] and an accountant for an investment bank.[7][16] He worked in syndicated finance and became director of infrastructure finance at ING Group in 2014.[22] He was a trustee of the Campaign to Protect Rural England from July 2009-June 2014,[2] and on the board of the UK Friends of The Abraham Fund Initiatives from May 2009-February 2013.[23][24] He is a liveryman of The Worshipful Company of International Bankers.[25]

Personal life

Miraj's family comes from Pakistan,[26] and he is a Muslim;[3] he opposes radicalism and supports freedom of speech.[1] He attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Elstree and then the London School of Economics. He lives in Bow, London.[1]

When working as an auditor at the Ministry of Sound in the late 1990s, he became interested in house music and attended a course at Point Blank DJ School in Hoxton.[3] He has worked as a part-time DJ since the early 2000s.[26] From February 2014, he has run the monthly Decks and the City night in Shoreditch at The Horse and Groom; former footballer Glenn Helder played at the first night.[27][28][29] Joe Bish of Vice said of the night "This may just be the most reprehensible thing I've ever written about".[30]

Miraj founded and runs the annual Contrarian Prize,[31] awarded to Michael Woodford in 2013, Clive Stafford Smith in 2014[32] and Simon Danczuk in 2015.[27]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Danczuk, Simon (March 25, 2015). "Politics Unspun: Simon Danczuk MP Meets Ali Miraj". LBC. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Ali Mohammad MIRAJ". Companies House. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Adams, David (July 25, 2012). "When I'm not being an accountant I...". Economia. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 Khatkar, Perminder (March 9, 2009). "An Asian PM in our time?". BBC News. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Tory warning on appeasement". BBC News. October 8, 2001. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Identity cards: Information". BBC News. July 14, 2003. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  7. 1 2 Jones, George (August 1, 2007). "Rising star who fell from the Tories' A-list". The Telegraph. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Middle East debates". Newsnight. BBC. August 16, 2006. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Aberavon". BBC News. 2001. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  10. ↑ Foley, Gail (December 29, 2001). "Trouble at home, trouble abroad". BBC Wales. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Watford". BBC News. 2001. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  12. ↑ Waller, Robert; Criddle, Byron (May 7, 2007). The Almanac of British Politics. Routledge. ISBN 9781135206765.
  13. ↑ Aaronovitch, David (April 19, 2005). "Are we going forward, back - or sideways?". The Guardian. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  14. ↑ Casciani, Dominic (April 15, 2005). "From election launch to PR panic". BBC News. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Jenkin axed in Cameron reshuffle". BBC News. November 8, 2006. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  16. 1 2 Carlin, Brendan; Isaby, Jonathan (November 8, 2006). "Senior Tory sacked in 'A-list' race row". The Telegraph. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  17. ↑ Branigan, Tania; Mulholland, Hélène (November 21, 2006). "Tories pick Asian 'A-lister' for safe seat". The Guardian. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  18. ↑ Bright, Martin (August 2, 2007). "So very unprofessional". News Statesman. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Cameron critic axed as MP hopeful". BBC News. July 31, 2007. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  20. ↑ "Attack on 'PR-obsessed' Cameron". BBC News. July 30, 2007. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  21. ↑ "Cameron dismisses party criticism". BBC News. July 31, 2007. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  22. ↑ "ING infra movers". Project Finance International. Thomson Reuters. October 22, 2014. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  23. ↑ "Mohammad Ali MIRAJ". Companies House. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  24. ↑ "UK Board of Directors". Abraham Fund. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  25. ↑ "Liverymen". The Worshipful Company of International Bankers. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  26. 1 2 O'Keefe, Alice (January 1, 2005). "Could the Tories ever become trendy?". New Statesman. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  27. 1 2 Agnew, Harriet (June 19, 2015). "City Insider: Demis Hassabis joins board of tech venture". FT. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  28. ↑ "Decks and the City Launch Party at The Horse & Groom". Resident Advisor. February 27, 2014. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  29. ↑ Griffith, Gabriella (February 28, 2014). "Senior banker spins wheels of steel in the City". City A.M. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  30. ↑ Bish, Joe (March 28, 2014). "Have a Shitty Weekend!". Vice. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  31. ↑ Miraj, Ali (September 16, 2012). "Introducing: The Contrarian Prize". The Independent. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  32. ↑ Griffith, Gabriella (April 3, 2014). "The fine art of being contrarian gets its night out in Mayfair". City A.M. Retrieved February 29, 2016.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.