Rupa Huq

Huq was born in Queen Charlotte's Hospital, Hammersmith, London, England,[1] and grew up on Brunswick Road, Ealing[2] Huq's father, Muhammad Huq,[3] and mother, Rowshan Ara Huq, emigrated to Britain in 1962 to enable their children to have better opportunities and a higher level of education than was available in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).[4] Huq's father (who was also known as Abedul) came from Maksedpur in Pabna city, while her mother (who was also known as Dulali Biswas) was from Kuthipara.[5] Huq's father was training to become an actuary for The Prudential, but gave that 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 opened another restaurant in Harrow but later retired.[6]

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.[1] For her secondary education she attended the private Notting Hill and Ealing High School.

In 1993, she graduated with an upper second in Political and Social Sciences and Law from Newnham College, Cambridge, for a BA. In 1999, she completed a PhD in cultural studies with a thesis on youth culture at the University of East London,[7] comparing young people in East London and the Alsace region of France,[8] 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,[9] shadowing Labour MEP Carole Tongue. In October 2017, Huq told Sky News that she had been sexually harassed by a male MEP at this time.[10][11][12]

In 1998, Huq moved to Manchester.[11] From 1998 to 2004, she was a lecturer at the Victoria University of Manchester,[7] during which time she held a Leverhulme Trust Fellowship.[7][13]

From September 2004 until 2015,[14] Huq was a senior lecturer in Sociology and Criminology at Kingston University[8] in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.[13] She has also taught Media and Cultural Studies.[15]

Huq has contributed to Tribune, The Guardian, New Statesman, Progress magazine[16] and The Times Higher Education Supplement.[1] Huq's research specialism has chiefly been youth culture and pop music.[8] She has a particular interest in David Bowie.[17]

In 2006, her book Beyond Subculture: youth, pop and identity in a post-colonial world[18] on these themes was published. It was subsequently one of five titles shortlisted for the 2007 British Sociological Association Philip Abrams Memorial Prize.[9][13] In May 2012, her second book Making Sense of Suburbia through Popular Culture was published.[19][20] Huq was a contributor to the 2011 book What Next for Labour? Ideas for a new generation, published by Queensferry Publishing. In 2013, her books On the Edge: The Contested Cultures of English Suburbia After 7/7 and Making Sense of Suburbia Through Popular Culture were published.

Huq has appeared on Channel S and Bangla TV as well as Channel 4 News and BBC News 24.[1] On radio, she has been on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Asian Network.[1]

Huq says that she has been a part-time DJ, saying in 2004, "I first started DJing for a hospital radio station when I was about 17 and now I DJ in clubs and bars in Manchester".[11][21]

Huq in 2006

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 North West England.[9][22]

In 2005, she stood as the Labour parliamentary candidate in Chesham and Amersham at the 2005 general election.[23]

In 2008, she served on a UK government Foreign and Commonwealth "Understanding Islam" delegation to Bangladesh.[14]

In 2010, Huq was one of three Labour candidates standing for a council seat in Walpole in the constituency of Ealing.[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.[15][24][25] 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.[26] During the election campaign, Huq was manhandled by the former vice-chairman 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.[27][28][29][30][31]

In May 2015, Huq won the Ealing Central and Acton seat with 22,002 votes, previous incumbent Angie Bray received 21,728 votes, with a turnout of 71.4%.[32][33][34]

In April 2017, the Green Party decided not to contest her seat in the general election, commenting, "By and large we quite like Rupa. She has made quite prominent statements on proportional representation and Heathrow, as well as climate change and environmental issues in regards to Brexit."[35] In May 2017, Vince Cable commented how he gave Huq a lift home from a joint speaking engagement, saying, "We talked for a couple of hours, and it was very clear that on almost every issue our views were almost identical. And so I would find it difficult to vote against somebody like that, and I hope that our people around the country are discriminating and think and act in a constructive way."[36][37][38] In June 2017, in the general election, Huq retained her seat with an increased majority.[39][40][41]

Huq has a son, Rafi (born 2004).[69][70][71] Her elder sister, Nutun, is an architect. Her younger sister is former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq.[1]

Her father was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2008, and died on 5 September 2014.[72] Her mother died on 21 May 2017 after being ill for several months.[73]

Huq speaks English, Bengali, French and Hindi.[74]

• British Bangladeshi
• List of British Bangladeshis
• List of English writers
• List of Muslim writers and poets
• List of ethnic minority politicians in the United Kingdom

• Rupa Huq on Economic and Social Research Council
• A week in the life of...Rupa Huq
• Huq, Rupa. From the margins to mainstream? Representations of British Asian youth musical cultural expression from bhangra to Asian underground music. February 2003
• Burgin, Paul. Interview with Rupa Huq. SoundCloud. March 2012

• Official website
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• Rupa Huq at IMDb
• Rupa Huq on guardian.com
• Rupa Huq on New Statesman
• Rupa Huq on Tribune
• Rupa Huq on The Huffington Post
• Appearances on C-SPAN