Shahid Malik (born 24 November 1967) is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Dewsbury since 2005. He is currently a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Shahid Malik was born in Burnley, Lancashire. He studied Business Studies at the South Bank Polytechnic in South London and later worked with the East Lancashire Training and Enterprise Council in a business development capacity.

His other main area of work has been in regeneration and the voluntary sector. He was National Chair of the Voluntary sector body Urban Forum (1999-2002); chief group executive of the Pakistan Muslim Centre (PMC), Sheffield and Chief Executive of Haringey Regeneration Agency, managing a £150 million development programme. He also served as Vice-Chair of UK UNESCO.

Following the Good Friday Peace Agreement of 1998 he was appointed as Great British Commissioner to the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (1999-2002). From 1998-2002 he also served as a Commissioner for the Commission for Racial Equality.

Shahid Malik had hoped to be selected in Burnley where Peter Pike had indicated he was standing down. However, the National Executive Committee decided that this Constituency Labour Party should have an all-women shortlist^[1]. He stood for selection in Brent East after Labour lost the 2003 by-election but was controversially left off the shortlist. Yasmin Qureshi was selected but failed to win the seat at the general election in May 2005.

Shahid Malik was elected as the Member of Parliament for Dewsbury in May 2005

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

In August 2006, he became the most senior British Parliamentarian to sign an open letter to the Prime Minister criticising the UK's policy towards Israel after the 2006 Lebanon War. Later in 2006, he visited the bombed areas of Lebanon. On his return to the UK he raised the issue in Parliament.

On 15 May 2009, Malik stepped down as justice minister to allow the prime minister's independent adviser on ministerial interests, Sir Philip Mawer, to investigate his financial arrangements.

The prime minister ordered the inquiry after the Daily Telegraph published details of Malik's expenses. The investigation covered allegations that Malik had benefited from a preferential rent that he had failed to declare in the ministerial register; it did not relate to his expenses claims.

On 9 June, Malik rejoined the government as a junior communities minister after being cleared of breaching the ministerial code.^[2]

On 16 June, John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, launched a formal inquiry into Mr Malik’s expenses claims.^[3]

• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Shahid Malik MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Shahid Malik MP
• Transcript of maiden speech to the House of Commons
• Shahid Malik's website