Dr Rupa Huq MP
Huq in 2015
Member of Parliament for Ealing Central and Acton
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 May 2015
Preceded by	Angie Bray
Majority	274 (0.5%)
Personal details
Born	Rupa Asha Huq (1972-04-02) 2 April 1972 (age 51) Hammersmith, London, England
Political party	Labour
Relations	Mohammed Huq (father) Roshan Ara Huq (mother) Nutun Huq (sister) Konnie Huq (sister)
Children	1
Residence(s)	Ealing, London, England
Alma mater	Cambridge University University of East London
Occupation	Writer, columnist, politician, senior lecturer, music DJ
Profession	Politician
Website	www.rupahuq.co.uk

Rabiah^[1] "Rupa" Asha Huq (Bengali: রাবেয়া "রূপা" আশা হক; born 2 April 1972) is British Labour Party politician, writer, columnist, senior lecturer in sociology at Kingston University and former Deputy Mayor of the London Borough of Ealing. She was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Ealing Central and Acton at the 2015 general election.

Early life

Huq's father, Muhammad Huq,^[2][3] and mother, Roshan Ara Huq, came to Britain in the 1960s to enable their children to have better opportunities and a higher level of education than was available in Bangladesh.^[4] Huq's father who was also known as Fazlul came from Maksedpur in Pabna city, while her mother who is also known as Dulali Biswas is from Kuthipara.^[5] Huq's father was training to become an actuary for The Prudential, however, he gave it up to start an Indian restaurant in Soho, London. After the recession of the early 1990s, the council did not renew the restaurant's lease so the business folded. He started another restaurant in Harrow but has since retired.^[6]

Huq was born in Queen Charlotte's Hospital, Hammersmith, London, England. She attended Montpelier Primary School in Ealing. In 1980, at the age of eight, Huq was featured in the BBC Schools programme Look and Read when the programme visited the school.^[7]

She attended Notting Hill & Ealing High School. In 1993, she graduated with a 2:1 in BA Political and Social Sciences and Law from Cambridge University. In 1999, she completed a PhD in cultural studies thesis on youth culture at the University of East London,^[8] comparing young people in East London and the Alsace region of France,^[9] which included being a post-graduate at Strasbourg II University in France during which time she also worked at the European Parliament for the Labour Party,^[10] shadowing Labour MEP Carole Tongue.^[11]

Teaching career

In 1998, Huq moved to Manchester.^[11] From 1998 to 2004, She was a lecturer at University of Manchester,^[8] during which she held a Leverhulme Trust Fellowship.^[8][12]

From September 2004, Huq was a senior lecturer in Sociology and Criminology at Kingston University^[9] in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.^[12] She has also taught Media and Cultural Studies.^[13]

Writing and media career

Huq has contributed to Tribune, The Guardian, New Statesman, Progress magazine^[14] and The Times Higher Education Supplement.^[7] Huq's research specialism has chiefly been youth culture and pop music.^[9] She has a particular interest in David Bowie.^[15]

In 2006, her book Beyond Subculture: youth, pop and identity in a post-colonial world^[16] on these themes was published. It was subsequently one of five titles shortlisted for the 2007 British Sociological Association Philip Abrams Memorial prize.^[10][12] In May 2012, her second book Making Sense of Suburbia through Popular Culture was published.^[4][17] Huq was a contributor to the 2011 book What Next for Labour? Ideas for a new generation, published by Queensferry Publishing.

Huq has appeared on Channel S and Bangla TV as well as Channel 4 News and BBC News 24.^[7] On radio, she has been on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Asian Network.^[7]

Huq is also a music DJ under the stage name "Dr Huq" and recorded a jingle for John Peel in Bengali. She first started DJ-ing for a hospital radio station at the age of 17.^[11][18]

Political career

Huq was a researcher for Tony Banks and Patricia Hewitt. In 2004, she stood as a candidate for Labour in the European Parliament election in the North West.^[10][19]

In 2005, she stood as the Labour parliamentary candidate in the safe Conservative seat of Chesham and Amersham in Buckinghamshire (Conservative majority of 11,882) at the 2005 general election.^[20] She received 6,610 votes^[19] and lost to the Conservative candidate Cheryl Gillan who had 25,619 votes.^[13]

Huq was one of three Labour candidates standing for a council seat in Walpole in the constituency of Ealing.^[19] In 2010, after the local elections, she became the Deputy Mayor of the London Borough of Ealing for the municipal year 2010^[21] – 2011.^[22]

In November 2013, Huq was chosen by Labour as their prospective parliamentary candidate for Ealing Central and Acton constituency to challenge Conservative MP Angie Bray at the 2015 general election.^[13][23][24] In January 2015, she was one of 15 Labour candidates each given financial support of £10,000 by Lord Matthew Oakeshott, the former Liberal Democrat.^[25] During the election campaign, Huq was manhandled by the former vice chair of the local Conservative branch, Karim Sacoor, who was caught on video repeatedly attempting to drag her away from Boris Johnson, who was campaigning with her Conservative rival Angie Bray.^{[26][27][28][29][30]}

In May 2015, Huq won the Ealing Central and Acton seat with 22,002 votes, previously held by Angie Bray who received 21,728 votes, with a turnout of 71.4%.^[31][32][33] In June of the same year, Huq was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election,^[25] although she now supports Yvette Cooper for leader.^[34][35]

Personal life

Huq has a son Rafi (born 2004).^[36] Her elder sister Nutun is an architect.^[37] Her younger sister is former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq.^[38][39] In 2008, her father was diagnosed with prostate cancer.^[29] Huq speaks Bengali, French and Hindi.^[40]

Books