Shabnam Nasimi ( fa, شبنم نسیمی) (born 16 February 1991) is an Afghan-born British social activist, commentator, and political figure. She was formerly policy advisor to Minister for Afghan Resettlement

Victoria Atkins Victoria Mary Atkins (born 22 March 1976) is a British politician who has served as Financial Secretary to the Treasury since October 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Louth and ...

MP and Minister for Refugees Richard Harrington. A member of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, Nasimi was a candidate in the 2021 local elections.

Early life and education

Nasimi's family came to the UK from Afghanistan, after fleeing the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

regime in 1999. Her father Nooralhaq Nasimi had gained his PhD in Law in the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and her mother Mahboba completed her Masters in Jurisprudence; they prized education above all else. Her father, Dr. Nooralhaq Nasimi founded and has been running the award-winning charity Afghanistan & Central Asian Association since 2001 to support the integration of refugee and migrant communities in the UK. Her father was appointed Member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(MBE) in the King's 2022 New Year Honours for services to refugees. Nasimi went to

St Saviour's and St Olave's Church of England School St Saviour's and St Olave's Church of England School is a secondary school and sixth form for girls located on New Kent Road near Elephant and Castle, in the London Borough of Southwark, England. It is a voluntary aided Church of England school ...

until 18, completing her

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

and

A-level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

s. She was educated at the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

where she gained a degree in Law. She then completed an MSc in Global Governance and International Security at

Birkbeck University Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public university, public research university, located in Bloomsbury, London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the federal Universit ...

Career

Shabnam Nasimi was appointed Policy Advisor to the Minister of Afghan Resettlement (

MP) in November 2021 and to the Minister for Refugees (

Lord Harrington Earl of Harrington is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain that was created in 1742. History The earldom of Harrington was granted in 1742 to William Stanhope, 1st Baron Harrington, the former Secretary of State and then Lord President o ...

) in February 2022. She worked to support PM Boris Johnsons plans dubbed 'Operation Warm Welcome' including the successful integration of the Afghans who stood side by side with the UK in conflict, their families and those at highest risk who have been evacuated. In 2019, Nasimi founded Conservative Friends of Afghanistan. She has advised FCDO, the EU Special Envoy Afghanistan and other private companies, government agencies and NGOs on Afghanistan - and is an ardent campaigner for women's rights, an Ambassador for the 50:50 Parliament campaign. She has written for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', ''

Prospect Prospect may refer to: General * Prospect (marketing), a marketing term describing a potential customer * Prospect (sports), any player whose rights are owned by a professional team, but who has yet to play a game for the team * Prospect (mining ...

'' magazine, the websites ''

Quillette ''Quillette'' () is an online magazine founded by Australian journalist Claire Lehmann. The magazine primarily focuses on science, technology, news, culture, and politics. It also has a podcast, hosted by Jon Kay. ''Quillette'' was created in ...

'' and Free Market Conservatives and the blog

ConservativeHome ConservativeHome is a British right-wing blog which supports, but is independent of, the Conservative Party. It was first established by Tim Montgomerie in 2005 with the aim of arguing for a broad conservative spectrum, which is serious about bot ...

. She has been accused of repeatedly plagiarizing journalists in her written work. Nasimi has appeared as a political commentator on

Newsnight ''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

ITV News ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British television network ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the network in 1955, and has since conti ...

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

and Channel 5 News, as well as other international media to provide commentary and analysis on British Politics, foreign policy, immigration and Social integration, ethnic minority communities in the UK and gender equality.

Honours and awards

In International Women's Day 2022, Shabnam made the Women in Westminster: The 100 - Ones to Watch list. In 2019, Nasimi was nominated and shortlisted as one of the BBC's 100 Women during 2019.

Political views and activity

At the May 2021 local elections, Nasimi contested the council seat of Cranford ward in Hounslow for the

. Nasimi 1,191 votes, finishing in 2nd place out of the 5 candidates that stood. Nasimi has spoken in favour of the United Kingdom's

withdrawal from the European Union Withdrawal from the European Union is the legal and political process whereby an EU member state ceases to be a member of the Union. Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union ( TEU) states that "Any Member State may decide to withdraw from t ...

and has stated that she voted for Brexit. Nasimi endorsed

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

in the

2019 Conservative Party leadership election The 2019 Conservative Party leadership election was triggered when Theresa May announced on 24 May 2019 that she would resign as leader of the Conservative Party on 7 June and as prime minister of the United Kingdom once a successor had been el ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nasimi, Shabnam 1991 births Living people Alumni of the Open University Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London British women activists Afghan women activists British people of Afghan descent Conservative Party (UK) people