Ali Miraj

Mohammad Ali Miraj (born October 1974)[1] is a British former Conservative Party parliamentary candidate, chartered accountant, and part-time DJ from London.[2]

Ali Miraj
BornOctober 1974 (age 46)
Hillingdon, London, England
NationalityBritish
EducationHaberdashers' Aske's Boys' School
Alma materLondon School of Economics
OccupationChartered accountant; infrastructure financier, part-time DJ
EmployerING Group
Known forConservative Party parliamentary candidate: Aberavon 2001; Watford 2005
Notable work
Contrarian Prize
Board member ofCass Business School Strategy Board 2015–present; Campaign to Protect Rural England 2009–2014; UK Friends of The Abraham Fund Initiatives 2009–2013

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.[3]

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 [11 September] attacks even more difficult to bear".[4] In 2003 when he was in Conservative Future he supported ID cards being introduced to prevent benefit fraud, but was opposed to random checks.[5] Miraj was a foreign affairs advisor to the Conservative Party from 2001–3;[6] he opposed the 2003 Iraq War, against his party line.[7] He appeared on a Newsnight debate in 2006 about the Middle East during the Lebanon war.[8]

Parliamentary candidate

Miraj was the candidate for Aberavon in the 2001 General Election, coming fourth with 2,296 votes (7.6%).[9] He was the only ethnic minority candidate standing in Wales, when he was described as "a bit of a character, doing passable imitations of then leader William Hague".[10]

He was the candidate for Watford in the 2005 General Election, a marginal seat, coming third with 14,634 (29.6%);[11] The Almanac of British Politics said he "did well not to be squeezed by the other two" main party candidates[12] and journalist David Aaronovitch called him a "young, energetic DJ with an excellent website and a nimble way with policy".[13] During the campaign, Miraj noted that "Muslims are not the flavour of the month right now and we have a massive PR job to do."[14] He said some voters told him they would not vote for him because he was a Muslim.[3]

Miraj applied for three seats with vacancies where MPs were retiring in 2010, including Witham in Essex, but felt blocked because of his race, saying that Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin told him, "Good luck, Ali, but I would be shocked if they didn't pick a white, middle-class male", which Jenkin denied.[3][15][16] In the end, Priti Patel was selected; as an Asian woman this went against Miraj's prediction, but he commented, "This is a bright day for the party and indicative of progress."[17] Miraj was on the candidate list for Watford for the 2010 General Election, with commentator Martin Bright calling him "an obvious choice for Cameron's A-list",[18] but Miraj was dropped from the list in July 2007. Although he had been part of party leader David Cameron's 2005 leadership campaign, and was on Conservative policy review boards, including that for International and National Security, he criticised Cameron after the party came third in two by-elections, saying, "I'm disillusioned because I think substance has been replaced by PR". Miraj was suspended as a candidate the next day; Cameron said Miraj had asked him for a peerage the same day as his criticism, which Miraj said was a smear, because Cameron had called the meeting.[19][20][21]

Career

Miran has worked as an auditor[2] and an accountant for an investment bank.[6][16] He worked in syndicated finance and became director of infrastructure finance at ING Group in 2014.[22] He was a trustee of the Campaign to Protect Rural England from July 2009 to June 2014,[1] and on the board of the UK Friends of The Abraham Fund Initiatives from May 2009 to February 2013.[23][24] In addition, he is a liveryman of The Worshipful Company of International Bankers.[25]

Personal life

Miraj's family comes from Pakistan,[26] and he is a Muslim;[2] he opposes radicalism and supports freedom of speech.[7] He attended Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Elstree and then the London School of Economics. He lives in Bow, London.[7]

When working as an auditor at the Ministry of Sound in the late 1990s, he became interested in house music and attended a course at Point Blank DJ School in Hoxton.[2] He has worked as a part-time DJ since the early 2000s.[26] From February 2014, he has run the monthly Decks and the City night in Shoreditch at The Horse and Groom; former footballer Glenn Helder played at the first night.[27][28][29] Joe Bish of Vice said of the night "This may just be the most reprehensible thing I've ever written about".[30]

Contrarian prize

Miraj founded and runs the annual Contrarian Prize,[31] awarded to Michael Woodford in 2013, Clive Stafford Smith in 2014[32] and Simon Danczuk in 2015.[27]

References
  1. "Ali Mohammad MIRAJ". Companies House. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  2. Adams, David (25 July 2012). "When I'm not being an accountant I..." Economia. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  3. Khatkar, Perminder (9 March 2009). "An Asian PM in our time?". BBC News. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  4. "Tory warning on appeasement". BBC News. 8 October 2001. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  5. "Identity cards: Information". BBC News. 14 July 2003. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  6. Jones, George (1 August 2007). "Rising star who fell from the Tories' A-list". The Telegraph. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  7. Danczuk, Simon (25 March 2015). "Politics Unspun: Simon Danczuk MP Meets Ali Miraj". LBC. Archived from the original on 25 August 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  8. "Middle East debates". Newsnight. BBC. 16 August 2006. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  9. "Aberavon". BBC News. 2001. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  10. Foley, Gail (29 December 2001). "Trouble at home, trouble abroad". BBC Wales. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  11. "Watford". BBC News. 2001. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  12. Waller, Robert; Criddle, Byron (7 May 2007). The Almanac of British Politics. Routledge. ISBN 9781135206765.
  13. Aaronovitch, David (19 April 2005). "Are we going forward, back – or sideways?". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  14. Casciani, Dominic (15 April 2005). "From election launch to PR panic". BBC News. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  15. "Jenkin axed in Cameron reshuffle". BBC News. 8 November 2006. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  16. Carlin, Brendan; Isaby, Jonathan (8 November 2006). "Senior Tory sacked in 'A-list' race row". The Telegraph. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  17. Branigan, Tania; Mulholland, Hélène (21 November 2006). "Tories pick Asian 'A-lister' for safe seat". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  18. Bright, Martin (2 August 2007). "So very unprofessional". News Statesman. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  19. "Cameron critic axed as MP hopeful". BBC News. 31 July 2007. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  20. "Attack on 'PR-obsessed' Cameron". BBC News. 30 July 2007. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  21. "Cameron dismisses party criticism". BBC News. 31 July 2007. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  22. "ING infra movers". Project Finance International. 22 October 2014. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  23. "Mohammad Ali MIRAJ". Companies House. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  24. "UK Board of Directors". Abraham Fund. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  25. "Liverymen". The Worshipful Company of International Bankers. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  26. O'Keefe, Alice (1 January 2005). "Could the Tories ever become trendy?". New Statesman. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  27. Agnew, Harriet (19 June 2015). "City Insider: Demis Hassabis joins board of tech venture". Financial Times. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  28. "Decks and the City Launch Party at The Horse & Groom". Resident Advisor. 27 February 2014. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  29. Griffith, Gabriella (28 February 2014). "Senior banker spins wheels of steel in the City". City A.M. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  30. Bish, Joe (28 March 2014). "Have a Shitty Weekend!". Vice. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  31. Miraj, Ali (16 September 2012). "Introducing: The Contrarian Prize". The Independent. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  32. Griffith, Gabriella (3 April 2014). "The fine art of being contrarian gets its night out in Mayfair". City A.M. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
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