A British Labour Party politician and a barrister, Imran Hussain was born and raised in Bradford, West Yorkshire. He is the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Bradford East after winning the seat in the 2015 general election. He was born on 7 June 1978.
Imran Hussain attended local state funded schools and as a teenager worked in Morrisons Supermarket sweeping floors and stacking shelves. He was the first in his family to attend University and went on to qualify as a Barrister at the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn.
Imran Hussain was first elected as a Councillor in the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council in 2002. In 2003, Imran Hussain brought a motion to Bradford Council opposing the Iraq War. In 2008, he was elected as Deputy Leader of the Council's Labour Group.
In 2010, when Labour took control of the council, he became Deputy Leader of Bradford Council and remained in that position for five years until the 2015 general election when he was elected to the House of Commons.
Following his election to Westminster, Imran Hussain rejected his Council allowance, which he was entitled to, stating it was a principled decision as it would be wrong to get two salaries from public office.
In 2012, he was selected to contest Bradford West in a by-election caused by the resignation of the Labour incumbent, Marsha Singh, due to serious illness. George Galloway of the Respect Party chose to stand at this by-election. Shortly before polling day, a leaflet was distributed in the constituency which asserted; 'God KNOWS who is a Muslim'. 'And he KNOWS who is not'.
It continued; Let me point out to all the Muslim brothers and sisters what I stand for. I, George Galloway, do not drink alcohol and never have. Ask yourself if the other candidate [Imran Hussain] in this election can say that truthfully. The leaflet contained no identifying party logo or indication of the agent or printer, as required by law. Although a connection to the Respect Party candidate was initially denied, it was later confirmed that the document had been approved by Galloway. The election was won by Galloway.
In 2014, Bradford East Constituency Labour Party opened its parliamentary selection process. In the final selection meeting held on 1 November 2014, Imran Hussain beat three other candidates, including the President of the Trades Union Congress to become Labour's candidate for the seat. During his 2015 general election campaign for Bradford East, Imran Hussain rejected a £1,000 donation from Tony Blair citing his own opposition to the Iraq War as the reason.
Imran Hussain was subsequently elected to Parliament in 2015 by gaining the seat from the Liberal Democrats with a 13.8% swing to Labour. On 15 May 2015, he was one of 10 newly-elected Labour MPs who signed an open letter calling for a Leader of the Labour Party who will not draw back to the ‘New Labour’ creed of the past and will oppose austerity.
On 20 July 2015, Imran Hussain was one of 48 Labour MPs who voted against the Welfare Bill and therefore rebelled against the Labour Party's position of abstaining on the vote. He described the bill as cruel and unfair and said it would be attacking hard working families, the poorest and children.
Imran Hussain was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015. On 14 January 2016 Imran Hussain was appointed Shadow Minister of State for International Development by Jeremy Corbyn.
