Mohammed Afzal Khan, ( ur, محمد افضل خان; born 5 April 1958) is a Pakistani born British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Manchester Gorton Manchester Gorton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Labour's Afzal Khan, who was elected at the 2017 general election. It is the safest Labour seat in Greater Manchester by numerical majority and ...

since

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. He was formerly Lord Mayor of Manchester for the year 2005–2006, and served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...

from 2014 to 2017.

Early life

Khan was born in Pakistan and came to the UK aged 11. After leaving school without qualifications, he had a number of jobs, including as a Greater Manchester Police constable, before returning to education and qualifying as a solicitor.

Political career

Local government

Khan was first elected a Labour Councillor in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, being re-elected in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, representing Cheetham Ward. He served as Executive Member for Children's Services. Khan became the first

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Lord Mayor of Manchester, taking the position for 2005–2006. In 2010, Khan was appointed CBE for his race relations work. In 2011, Khan was suggested as a candidate for Oldham East and Saddleworth. In 2012, he was a potential candidate for the Bradford West by-election but lost the nomination to Imran Hussain, who was defeated by Respect Party candidate,

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 o ...

European Parliament

Khan was selected in February 2013 on the Labour Party's list for North West England at the European Parliamentary election of 2014 and, on 22 May 2014, he was returned as

MEP MEP may refer to: Organisations and politics * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, a political party in Sri Lanka * Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (1956), a former political alliance in Sri Lanka * Maison européenne de la photographie, a photography centre ...

to the European Parliament to represent

. In January 2016, Khan was appointed by the

Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) is the political group in the European Parliament of the Party of European Socialists (PES). The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats was officially founded as a Socialist ...

in the European Parliament as Special Representative to Muslim Communities. In this function, Khan visited Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, France and Denmark for work with local Muslim communities and invited groups of young Muslims to the Parliament.

Parliamentary career

In March 2017, he applied to be Labour's candidate in the

2017 Manchester Gorton by-election The Manchester Gorton by-election was a by-election scheduled for 4 May 2017 to elect a Member of Parliament (MP) for the House of Commons constituency of Manchester Gorton. It was cancelled on 20 April following the announcement of the 2017 gen ...

and was officially selected on 22 March. During the by-election, he said "I condemn the statements made by Ken Livingstone and I believe there is no place for anti-Semitism in the Labour Party." He added, "I have been a lifelong campaigner against racism and anti-Semitism. In 2008, I was awarded a CBE in part for my work encouraging greater understanding between Muslims and Jews. I intend to continue this work if I am elected as MP for Manchester Gorton." The by-election was cancelled following the dissolution of Parliament for the early general election on 8 June 2017. Khan was again selected for as the Labour candidate for the general election and was elected, becoming Manchester's first Muslim MP. In July 2017, Khan was appointed Shadow Immigration Minister. In July 2019, Khan apologised for having shared on Facebook two years earlier a video of American comedian

Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted ''The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts ''Th ...

talking about Benjamin Netanyahu. The text under the video referred to an "Israel-British-Swiss-Rothschilds crime syndicate" and "mass murdering Rothschilds Israeli mafia criminal liars". Khan said he was "mortified", adding "I didn't read the text below, which contained an anti-Semitic conspiracy about the Rothschilds. I would never have shared it if I had seen that".

Other roles

From 2000 to 2004, Khan was a member of the Department of Trade and Industry's Ethnic Minority Business Forum, advising the then Secretary of State, Patricia Hewitt. Following the

2005 London bombings The 7 July 2005 London bombings, often referred to as 7/7, were a series of four coordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamic terrorists in London that targeted commuters travelling on the city's public transport system during the mo ...

, he became a member of a Home Office working group aimed at preventing extremism. He has also served as Assistant Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain and is its North West representative. He is a co-founder of the Muslim Jewish Forum of Greater Manchester. Khan has appeared on

Channel M Channel M was a regional television station, serving Greater Manchester. The station, originally known as ''Manchester Student Television'', was owned and operated by the GMG Regional Media division of Guardian Media Group. Coverage Original ...

documentaries. He was appointed as parliamentary chair for the Labour Muslim Network in August 2020.

Other events

In March 2018, Khan received a suspicious package containing an anti-Islamic letter and sticky liquid. The substance was later found to be harmless. Similar packages were received by fellow Labour MPs Mohammad Yasin, Rushanara Ali and

Rupa Huq Rupa Asha Huq ( bn, রাবেয়া "রূপা" আশা হক; born 2 April 1972) is a British Independent MP, columnist and academic. Elected as the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Ealing Central and Acton at the 2015 general ...

Personal life

Khan's daughter Maryam was a Councillor on

Manchester City Council Manchester City Council is the local authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester is the sixth largest city in England by population. Its city council is composed of 96 councillors, three ...

, for Longsight.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Afzal 1958 births Greater Manchester Police officers British politicians of Pakistani descent British solicitors Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Councillors in Manchester Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East Labour Party (UK) councillors Labour Party (UK) MEPs Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Living people Lord Mayors of Manchester MEPs for England 2014–2019 Pakistani emigrants to the United Kingdom Politicians from Jhelum UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present