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Contrarian Prize
The Contrarian Prize is an annual prize which has been awarded either annually or bi-annually since its establishment in 2012. The prize promotes the contribution of non-conformist thinking to the British public debate by recognising individuals who have demonstrated independence, courage, and sacrifice through the ideas they have introduced, or stands they have taken. Nominations for the prize are submitted through an online form by the public each year, with the shortlist and winner selected by a panel of judges. The judging panel is chaired by Ali Miraj, who founded the prize, with other judges including economist Vicky Pryce, businessman and winner of the inaugural prize Michael Woodford, journalist Izabella Kaminska, and politician Gawain Towler. The prize: "The Three Politicians" "The Three Politicians" was originally created in 2007 by Italian pop art sculptor, Maruro Perucchetti, and donated by him in recognition of the inaugural prize awarded in March 2013. The pigme ...
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Ali Miraj
Mohammad Ali Miraj (born October 1974) is a British former Conservative Party parliamentary candidate, chartered accountant, and part-time DJ from London. 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. 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 1 Septemberattacks even more difficult to bear". In 2003 when he was in Conservative Future he supported ID cards being introduced to prevent benefit fraud, but was opposed to random checks. Miraj was a foreign affairs advisor to the Conservative Party from 2001 to 2003; he opposed the 2003 Iraq War, against his party line. He appeared on a ''Newsnight'' debate in 2006 about the Middle East during the Lebanon war. Parliamentary candidate Miraj was the candidate for Aberavon in the 2001 G ...
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Douglas Carswell
John Douglas Wilson Carswell (born 3 May 1971) is a British former politician who served as a Member of Parliament from 2005 to 2017, co-founded Vote Leave and currently serves as president and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. As a member of the Conservative Party, Carswell was first elected as the MP for Harwich in 2005 and then for Clacton in 2010. In August 2014, he changed his political allegiance to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and announced his resignation as an MP. He stood in the subsequent by-election and was returned under his new affiliation, becoming the first elected MP for UKIP. He stated that he was joining UKIP out of a desire to see "fundamental change in British politics" and because he believed "many of those at the top of the Conservative Party are simply not on our side. They aren't serious about the change that Britain so desperately needs." In 2016, Carswell said that he had "jumped ship with the express goal of changing the image of ...
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Narindar Saroop
Major Narindar Saroop (14 August 1929 – 19 December 2020) was an Indian-born British businessman. He was the eldest son of Chaudhri Ram Saroop, Ismaila, Rohtak, India and the late Shyam Devi. He was educated at the Aitchison College for Punjab Chiefs in Lahore and the Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun. In 1952 he first married Ravi Gill, the only surviving child of the Sardar and Sardarni of Premgarh, India. This marriage was dissolved by divorce in 1967. By this marriage he had two daughters and one son (deceased). His second marriage took place in 1969 to Stephanie Denise, the youngest daughter of Alexander and Cynthia Amie Cronopulo of Zakynthos, Greece. Narindar Saroop served as a regular officer of the British Indian Army, the 2nd Royal Lancers (Gardner's Horse) and Queen Victoria's Own The Poona Horse retiring at the rank of Major in 1952. Upon leaving the Army Major Saroop became a management trainee at Yule Catto in 1954. He became a senior executive and di ...
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Gisela Stuart
Gisela Stuart, Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston (''née'' Gschaider; born 26 November 1955) is a British-German politician and life peer who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Edgbaston from 1997 to 2017. A former member of the Labour Party, she now sits as a crossbencher in the House of Lords. Born and raised in West Germany, Stuart moved to the United Kingdom in 1974. Elected for Birmingham Edgbaston at the 1997 general election, she was chair of the Vote Leave Campaign Committee and was one of its most high-profile figures, along with the Conservative MPs Boris Johnson and Michael Gove. The Vote Leave campaign was successful in achieving its goal at the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum of winning a majority of votes for Leave. From 2016 to 2020, she served as chair of Vote Leave's successor organisation, Change Britain. After she had left Parliament, Stuart was appointed by the Conservative government as chair of Wilton Park, an execu ...
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Patrick Minford
Anthony Patrick Leslie Minford (born 17 May 1943) is a British macroeconomist who is professor of applied economics at Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, a position he has held since 1997. He was Edward Gonner Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Liverpool from 1976 to 1997. In 2016, Minford was a notable member of the Economists for Brexit group which, in opposition to the consensus view of economists, advocated the UK leaving the European Union. Early career Born in Shrewsbury, Minford was educated at Horris Hill School, Winchester College, Balliol College, Oxford (BA), and the London School of Economics (MSc; PhD). He is the elder brother of John Minford, who is an academic and translator of Classical Chinese. He worked at the Ministry of Overseas Development and then as an economic adviser to the Ministry of Finance of Malawi. He then took a position as an economic adviser to HM Treasury's External Division. He was appointed as economics fello ...
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Simon Jenkins
Sir Simon David Jenkins (born 10 June 1943) is a British author, a newspaper columnist and editor. He was editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1976 to 1978 and of ''The Times'' from 1990 to 1992. Jenkins chaired the National Trust from 2008 to 2014. He currently writes columns for ''The Guardian''. Early life Jenkins was born , in Birmingham, England. His father, Daniel Thomas Jenkins, was a Welsh professor of divinity at Princeton University and a Minister in the Congregational and then United Reformed Church. He was educated at Mill Hill School and St John's College, Oxford, where he earned a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Career Journalism After graduating from the University of Oxford, Jenkins initially worked at '' Country Life'' magazine, before joining the ''Times Educational Supplement.'' He was then features editor and columnist on the ''Evening Standard'' before editing the Insight pages of ''The Sunday Times''. From 1976 to 1978 he was editor ...
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George Galloway
George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer who is currently leader of the Workers Party of Britain, serving since 2019. Between 1987 and 2010, and then between 2012 and 2015, Galloway was a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for four constituencies, first for the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party and later for the Respect Party, the latter of which he joined in 2004 and led from 2013 until its dissolution in 2016. Galloway was born in Dundee, Scotland. After becoming the youngest ever chair of the Scottish Labour, Scottish Labour Party in 1981, he was general secretary of the London-based charity War on Want from 1983 until his election as MP for Glasgow Hillhead (UK Parliament constituency), Glasgow Hillhead (later Glasgow Kelvin (UK Parliament constituency), Glasgow Kelvin) in the 1987 United Kingdom general election, 1987 general election. In 2003, he was expelled from the Labour Party for bringing the ...
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Ed Husain
Ed Husain (born 25 December 1974) is a British author and academic. He is also a adjunct Professor, professor in the Walsh School of Foreign Service in Georgetown University. As a political advisor he has worked with leaders and governments across the world. He has held senior fellowships at think tanks in London and New York, including at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) at the height of the Arab uprisings (2010–2015). While at CFR, his policy innovation memo led to the US-led creation of a Geneva-based global fund to help counter terrorism. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on terrorism and insurgency. Husain was a senior advisor to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair (2015–2018). From 2018–2021 he completed his doctoral studies on Western philosophy and Islam under the direction of the English philosopher Sir Roger Scruton. He is the author of ''The Is ...
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Craig Murray
Craig John Murray (born 17 October 1958) is a Scottish author, human rights campaigner, journalist, and former diplomat for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Between 2002 and 2004, he was the British ambassador to Uzbekistan during which time he exposed the violations of human rights in Uzbekistan by the Karimov administration. This led to conflict with his superiors in the Foreign Office until finally he was removed from the post. Specifically, Murray lodged formal written complaints to the Foreign Office stating that it was morally and legally wrong to obtain intelligence under torture and that intelligence received by the Secret Intelligence Service (and the Central Intelligence Agency) from the Uzbek government was unreliable because it had been obtained through torture. Subsequently he became a political activist, campaigning for human rights and for transparency in global politics as well as for the independence of Scotland. Between 2007 and 2010 he was the ele ...
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Simon Danczuk
Simon Christopher Danczuk (; born 24 October 1966) is a British author and former Member of Parliament (MP) who represented the constituency of Rochdale between 2010 and 2017. He has co-written two books, ''Smile for the Camera: The Double Life of Cyril Smith'' and ''Scandal at Dolphin Square''. Early life and career Danczuk grew up in Hapton, Lancashire. He began his working life at the age of sixteen in a factory making gas fires, before moving to the chemical company ICI. Whilst working, he studied at night school and gained qualifications he had missed at secondary school. He then gained a place as a mature student at Lancaster University where he studied Economic Sociology and Politics. Danczuk became involved in the Labour movement after joining the Labour Party through the GMB trade union in the late 1980s. In 1993, at the age of 27, he was elected as a councillor to Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and served for six years, with portfolios including economic d ...
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Jonathan Dimbleby
Jonathan Dimbleby (born 31 July 1944) is a British presenter of current affairs and political radio and television programmes, author and historian. He is the son of Richard Dimbleby and younger brother of television presenter David Dimbleby. Education Dimbleby was educated at Charterhouse, a boys' independent school in Surrey. Later, he studied farm management at the Royal Agricultural College and graduated in 1965. He then studied philosophy at University College, London, where he was editor of the student newspaper '' Pi'', and graduated in 1970. He was later elected an honorary fellow but resigned in 2015 in protest at the forced resignation of Tim Hunt as an honorary fellow. In July 2007 he received an honorary degree from the University of Exeter. He is an Honorary Fellow of Bath Spa University (2006) and holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the West of England (2018). TV and radio career Dimbleby began his career at the BBC in Bristol in 1969. In 1970 he ...
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