Pioneering Asian councillors look back at careers in UK politics

Charles Choudhary has been a Conservative councillor for 31 years and was the mayor of Rushmoor from 2020 to 2021

Last year Rishi Sunak became the UK's first Asian Prime Minister, marking the culmination of a legacy of immigration to the country.

But British Asians have played a role in UK politics since the end of the World War Two, when many arrived in the country.

Rajinder Sohpal was Reading's first Asian councillor in 1986 for the Labour Party.

He said at the time, racist attitudes were "very strong".

Mr Sohpal said parties knew that ethnic minority councillors would "cost them a few votes" but, after putting pressure on his Labour councillor in Reading, he was told to "roll up his sleeves and get involved".

Charles Choudhary was the first non-white councillor of Rushmoor for the Conservatives.

He said: "When I first joined, not many people wanted to join the Conservative Party but I had a business at home and I thought the party knew how to generate wealth."

Rajinder Sohpal retired after 16 years as a councillor in Reading.

Mr Choudhary was elected after winning a majority in 1987. "Out of 4,500 people only six were people of colour," he said.

Following the independence of India in 1947 and the expulsion of Indians from Kenya and Uganda in the 1970s, the UK experienced large waves of Asians with British citizenship arriving in the country.

Currently, the Prime Minister, the Mayor of London, and the Scottish First Minister are all first-generation British Asians whose parents immigrated to the UK.

While the earliest presence of British Asians in UK politics is unclear, it is thought that the first Asian British MP was David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre, elected for Sudbury in Suffolk in 1841.

Rishi Sunak became the UK's first Asian Prime Minister on 25 October 2022

When Mr Sohpal was a councillor, one in 10 of the population was a person of colour, but he still met with adversity in his role as council leader for racial equality.

He said: "People would slam doors in your face. 'Go back to where you came from' was not unusual to hear."

BBC reporting at the time said one in four local councillors of colour experienced racist behaviour from council officers.

Mr Sohpal also criticised some ethnic minority politicians in the current government for their policies, which he said were "not much different from UKIP".

Prominent Conservative Party members like Priti Patel and Suella Braverman have been outspoken about their hard-line immigration policies, despite coming from immigrant families.

The government's latest plan, which was recently ruled as unlawful by The Court of Appeal, seeks to send asylum seekers directly to Rwanda to claim asylum.

Judges recently ruled that due to "deficiencies" in their asylum system the country is not a viable destination for asylum seekers.

Ms Braverman told MPs she respected the judgement, but added it was "disappointing" and that the government would be challenging it.

She added that the "abuse" of the asylum system was "unfair" on local communities, taxpayers and "those who play by the rules".

Mr Choudhary said among the 67 million people in the UK "you don't expect that everyone will want to accept foreigners".

"There's the element of jealousy there," he added.

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