Shahid Malik (born 24 November 1967) is a British Labour politician who was the Member of Parliament for Dewsbury from 2005 to 2010. In 2007 he became Britain's first Muslim Minister as International Development Minister, and subsequently served as a Justice Minister, Home Office Minister and most recently as Minister for Race, Faith and Community Cohesion at the Department for Communities and Local Government. He lost his seat as Member of Parliament in the 2010 general election following severe boundary changes.^[1][2][3]

Malik was born in Burnley, Lancashire. He attended Durham University, 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.

He has also been a Fellow of the Institute of Management (FIMgt) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).

In 2000 Malik was elected as the first non-white member to the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party. He was re-elected each year until 2005 when he stood down after being elected as an MP.

In 2002 Malik hoped to be selected in Burnley where Peter Pike had indicated he was standing down. However, the National Executive Committee controversially decided that the Constituency Labour Party should have an all-women shortlist.^[4] He also stood for selection in Brent East after Labour lost the 2003 by-election but was left off the shortlist.

In June 2001 Malik was arrested and allegedly beaten by police during racially motivated riots in Burnley. He said he had been trying to stop the violence and told the BBC he had been arrested by "very hyped-up" police. "The riot shields were smashed in my face, causing four to five stitches above the eye, a black eye, lacerations to the arm, bruises on the back of the head, on the body and on the legs."^[5] On leaving Burnley General Hospital Malik said: "No recriminations. This incident should not stereotype all police officers".^[6] No charges were brought by Lancashire Police and Malik was offered an apology.^[7] His peace-keeping role during the disturbances were later praised by the Chief Constable.

In April 2003 Malik won a public apology and "substantial" libel damages after being wrongly accused of throwing bricks during the riots in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph on 17 January 2002. Malik's lawyer told the High Court in London: "At the time referred to in the article, he was in fact acting as a mediator and peacemaker in a volatile situation following disturbances in Burnley."^[8]

In 2004 Malik was selected in Dewsbury and was elected as the Member of Parliament in May 2005. At the 2005 House Magazine Awards, his Maiden Speech was awarded the best among the 2005 intake.^{[citation needed]}

Upon election, Malik was appointed to the Home Affairs Select Committee. He also 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. He served as an international monitor for the Palestinian Presidential elections in 2005 and Parliamentary elections in January 2006. In June 2007 Malik became Britain's first Muslim Minister after Gordon Brown appointed him as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for International Development.^[9]

In October 2008, Malik was appointed as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice and in March 2009 was subsequently appointed into a dual role as a Home Office Minister. In June 2009 was appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department for Communities and Local Government.

In the 2010 general election Malik lost his seat. There had been severe boundary changes in his constituency which he felt had counted against him.^[10] In his speech on election night Malik also drew attention to the role played by an independent candidate, Khizar Iqbal. He said Iqbal had been "brought forward not to win but to make sure that I lost".^[11] Iqbal, who was elected as a Conservative Councillor, polled 3,813, or 7.1% of votes cast. Iqbal's election agent, Jonathan Scott, was also a former Conservative Councillor and had been the election agent for Baroness Warsi in her unsuccessful bid to become the Dewsbury MP in 2005.

Soon after his election to the House of Commons in 2005 Malik became one of the public faces of Muslim leadership in the UK and a leading voice in the battle with Islamic extremism in Britain. In the government reshuffle of 9 June 2009 Malik was given ministerial responsibility for issues of race, faith and community cohesion.

Just two months after 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. Malik described the bombings as "the most profound challenge yet faced by the British Muslim community". He said: "Condemnation is not enough and British Muslims must, and I believe are prepared to, confront the voices of evil head on."^[12]

Later Malik confronted the issue in an article for The Times newspaper. He wrote: "Yes, foreign policy causes anger among many British Muslims but this does not in itself cause terrorism. Unquestionably, the lethal ingredient is a twisted, perverted interpretation of Islam whereby you can legitimately kill yourself and other innocent people, and you will go to Heaven." He concluded that: "For British Muslims the fight against extremism is not just for the very soul of Islam but for the freedoms we enjoy as Britons."^[13]

Malik found controversy in February 2007 when he wrote, again in The Times, that the Muslim Council of Britain should "stop whingeing and show leadership." Referring to their decision not to play a part in Holocaust Memorial Day, Malik wrote: "Its flawed moral leadership places the MCB alongside the likes of the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, as nonattendees."^[14]

In October 2006 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. Aishah Azmi, 24, was asked to remove her niqab veil after pupils found it hard to understand her during English language lessons. The school said she could wear the veil outside the classroom.

Malik said: "In schools the top priority has got to be the education of our children... I believe the education authority has bent over backwards to be accommodating and has been extremely reasonable and sensible in the decision it has come to."

"There is no religious obligation whatsoever for Muslim women to cover themselves up in front of primary school children."^[15]

In June 2009 Malik spoke out against comments made by Nicolas Sarkozy after the French President declared the burqa was "not welcome" in France. Sarkozy said: "The burqa is not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience."

Malik responded publicly by saying: "It is not the job of government to dictate what people should or should not wear in our society – that is a matter of personal choice."

"There are no laws stating what clothes or attire are acceptable and so whether one chooses to wear a veil or burqa, a miniskirt or goth outfit is entirely at the individual's discretion."^[16]

In 2008 Malik was made an honorary Doctor of the University of Bradford for his contributions as Member of Parliament and, in particular, in recognition of the distinctive role he has played in working towards community cohesion and in striving for racial harmony.^[17]

On 25 October 2007, while on Government business, Malik was stopped and searched by United States airport security staff at Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. Malik said of the incident: "The abusive attitude I endured last November I forgot about and I forgave, but I really do believe that British ministers and parliamentarians should be afforded the same respect and dignity at USA airports that we would bestow upon our colleagues in the Senate and Congress. Obviously, there was no malice involved but it has to be said that the USA system does not inspire confidence."^[18]

Mr Malik's expenses have been high profile not least because of his five appearances on the front page of The Daily Telegraph during May 2009. This included three consecutive front page stories from May 15.

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.^[19]

On 9 June, Malik rejoined the government as a junior communities minister after being cleared of breaching the ministerial code.^[20]

On 16 June, John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, launched a formal inquiry into Malik’s expenses claims.^[21]

After a ten month enquiry Malik was cleared of abusing his expenses early in April 2010. Malik said the ruling was the end of a "12-month nightmare." He added "I have now been cleared of breaching the ministerial code of conduct by the ministerial standards adviser Sir Philip Mawer, cleared of any abuse of expenses by a parliamentary review conducted by the Department of Resources, and now finally cleared of abusing office expenses by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards John Lyon."^[22]

In October 2009 it was reported that Malik was also cleared in respect of his claims on the second homes allowance, which had been investigated by a panel headed by former civil servant Sir Thomas Legg.^[23] However, Malik was later asked to repay money in respect of claims for Council Tax, a television and a chair. He did so, but went on to appeal the decision. On 16 March 2010 the appeal was rejected.^[24] The audit asked Malik for a repayment of £1,340.57, which was less than half the average of £2,850 per MP.^[25]

Malik and his staff regularly had to intercept abusive and racist communications sent to his offices in Westminster and Dewsbury.^[26][27][28]

In June 2008 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 Malik covered in blood. The video was removed from the site following a further complaint from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.^[29]

In September 2009 a man from Woodley, Berkshire was charged with sending racist hate mail to Malik. Anthony Coyle, 59, admitted sending the abusive email to Malik, calling him and other Muslim ministers "c****", "black b******s" and urging them to "f*** off back to ragheadland”. Coyle was prosecuted under the Malicious Communications Act of 1988, which is intended to crack down on hate mail. The email was sent on Friday 15 May, the same day Malik had appeared on the front page of The Daily Telegraph regarding his expenses claims.^[30]

In December 2009 an envelope containing suspicious white powder was sent to Malik's office at the House of Commons, triggering an anti-terrorist investigation. Comments written on the envelope suggested it had been sent by a supporter of the far-right. The substance was later found to be harmless.^[31]

Malik won the parliamentary pool championship for three years running between 2006 and 2008, becoming the only MP to have ever retained the trophy. After his 2008 victory he withdrew from the competition, saying: "A good champion knows when to hang up his cue and I honestly am starting to feel a bit guilty about winning all the time. As much as I'd like to continue I think it's probably time to give someone else a chance."^[32]

Presenting him with his final trophy the then Minister for Sport, Gerry Sutcliffe, said: "I'm aware that in his younger days Shahid was no stranger to a pool cue and that mis-spent youth is now paying dividends for good causes in Dewsbury. If Shahid does graciously stand aside and allow others a chance I dare say there will be a collective sigh of relief from the other competitors – it would of course be a great gesture."^[33]

The trophy brought an annual prize of £1500, which Malik donated to good causes in his constituency. He also donated a pool table to the 96 (Dewsbury) Squadron, Air Training Corps.^[34][35]

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