Ayesha Yousef Hazarika, Baroness Hazarika, (born 15 December 1975) is a Scottish politician, political commentator and former political adviser to senior Labour Party politicians.

Early life

Hazarika was born in

Bellshill Maternity Hospital Bellshill Maternity Hospital was a health facility at Bellshill in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. History The hospital was built as a poor law hospital in the 1870s. It became an infectious diseases hospital in 1892 and a maternity hospital in 1917 ...

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns, and villages. It also borders East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk (co ...

, Scotland, to Indian Muslim parents who immigrated from

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

, and was raised in

Coatbridge Coatbridge (, ) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known as the Monklands (popula ...

. She was educated at Laurel Bank, an all-girls private school in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, and studied law at the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

. Hazarika had planned to become a solicitor before deciding instead to train as a journalist.

Comedy

While working as a press officer at the

Department of Trade and Industry Department of Trade and Industry may refer to: Current * Department of Trade and Industry (Isle of Man) * Department of Trade and Industry (Philippines) * Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (South Africa) Former * Department of Trade ...

, Hazarika was persuaded by a friend to take a comedy course run by comedian Logan Murray. She began to perform paid comedy gigs alongside her day job at the DTI. In 2003, Hazarika was a semi-finalist in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

stand-up comedy competition ''

So You Think You're Funny So You Think You're Funny? (SYTYF?) is an annual stand-up comedy competition for new acts. The competition began in 1988 in the United Kingdom. The finals are held every August at The Gilded Balloon during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Past ...

'', but chose to focus on her work as a political adviser. After leaving politics, Hazarika performed a stand-up show at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

in 2016, inspired by her time in politics. The following show, she tried again with a new show, ''State of the Nation'', in Edinburgh. In December 2018, Hazarika appeared on series 56 episode 10 of ''

Have I Got News for You ''Have I Got News for You'' (''HIGNFY'') is a British television panel show, produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC, which premiered on 28 September 1990. The programme focuses on two teams, one usually captained by Ian Hislop and one ...

'' as

Ian Hislop Ian David Hislop (born 13 July 1960) is a British journalist, satirist, and television personality. He is the editor of the satirical magazine '' Private Eye'', a position he has held since 1986. He has appeared on many radio and television pr ...

's teammate, a role she reprised in May 2020 during the "Lockdown" series.

Political adviser and commentator

From 2007 to 2015, Hazarika served as a political adviser to senior Labour Party figures, including

Harriet Harman Harriet Ruth Harman, Baroness Harman, (born 30 July 1950), is a British politician and solicitor who served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Chair of the Labour Party (UK), Chair of the Labour Pa ...

and

Ed Miliband Edward Samuel Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since July 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for D ...

, including during the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and 2015 general elections. After leaving her role working for Harman in the aftermath of the 2015 general election, Hazarika 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 valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2016 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for political service. It was reported at the time that Harman had proposed Hazarika for a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

age, but Miliband instead elevated another former adviser (

Spencer Livermore Spencer Elliot Livermore, Baron Livermore (born 12 June 1975) is a British politician and strategist serving as a Member of the House of Lords since 2015 and Financial Secretary to the Treasury since 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he was ...

) to the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. Describing herself as a "moderate" within the Labour Party, Hazarika urged

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...

to resign after the Copeland by-election in early 2017. Following the 2017 general election, in which Labour gained seats, she acknowledged that she had "got it wrong on Corbyn", and urged her "fellow Labour colleagues to acknowledge Corbyn's success and to try to find peace with him". After departing Westminster, Hazarika tried standup and provides commentary in the media. She has written columns for ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

'' and the ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

''. In 2017, commentator

Iain Dale Iain Dale (born 15 July 1962) is a British broadcaster, author, political commentator, and a former publisher and book retailer. He has been a blogger since 2002. He was the publisher of the ''Total Politics'' magazine between 2008 and 2012, a ...

put her at 75 on his list of the "100 Most Influential People on the Left". In 2018, she co-authored a book ''Punch and Judy Politics: An Insiders' Guide to Prime Minister’s Questions'' with fellow Labour speechwriter and

special adviser Special adviser may refer to: *Special adviser (Norway), a high-ranking civil servant *Special adviser (UK) A Special Adviser, also known as a SpAd, is a temporary civil servant who advises and assists UK government ministers or ministers in th ...

Tom Hamilton. In June 2020, she was one of the launch presenters of the

Times Radio Times Radio is a British digital radio station owned by News UK, part of the Murdoch family, Murdoch media empire. It is jointly operated by News Broadcasting (which News UK acquired in 2016, when it was known as ''Wireless Group''), ''The Tim ...

digital radio station, presenting Saturday and Sunday drivetime shows. Hazarika was nominated for a

age by Labour leader

Sir Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and lawyer who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously ...

and was created ''Baroness Hazarika, of Coatbridge in the County of Lanarkshire'', on 14 March 2024.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hazarika, Ayesha Hazarika, Baroness 1975 births Living people People from Bellshill People from Coatbridge Nobility from North Lanarkshire People educated at Laurel Bank School Alumni of the University of Hull Scottish radio presenters Scottish women radio presenters Scottish columnists Scottish women columnists 21st-century Scottish comedians Scottish women comedians 20th-century Scottish journalists 21st-century Scottish journalists Scottish political commentators Scottish political writers 21st-century Scottish women politicians 21st-century Scottish women writers Scottish Muslims Scottish people of Indian descent British special advisers Labour Party (UK) life peers Life peers created by Charles III Life peeresses created by Charles III Members of the Order of the British Empire