Shailesh Vara

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The Right Honourable
Shailesh Vara
Official portrait, 2020
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office
7 July 2022 – 6 September 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byBrandon Lewis
Succeeded byChris Heaton-Harris
Minister of State for Northern Ireland
In office
9 January 2018 – 15 November 2018
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byChloe Smith
Succeeded byJohn Penrose
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
In office
8 May 2015 – 17 July 2016
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byCaroline Nokes
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Courts and Legal Aid
In office
7 October 2013 – 13 July 2016
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byHelen Grant
Succeeded bySam Gyimah
Member of Parliament
for North West Cambridgeshire
In office
5 May 2005 – 30 May 2024
Preceded byBrian Mawhinney
Succeeded bySam Carling
Assistant Government Whip
In office
12th May 2010 – 6th September 2012
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Personal details
Born
Shailesh Lakhman Vara

(1960-09-04) 4 September 1960 (age 65)
Uganda Protectorate
NationalityUgandan
British
Political partyConservative
EducationAylesbury Grammar School
Alma materBrunel University (LLB)
ProfessionSolicitor
Websitewww.shaileshvara.com

Shailesh Lakhman Vara (/ˈʃaɪlɛʃ ˈvɑːrə/,[1] born 4 September 1960) is a British Conservative former politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Cambridgeshire from 2005 until 2024. He was the UK's first Hindu MP. He also served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from July to September 2022.

In 2006 he was appointed to the shadow ministerial post of Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons by David Cameron. Vara served in the Cameron government and was the conservative party's first ethnic minority minister in the House of Commons when in May 2010, he was appointed to the government front bench as an Assistant Whip. On May 15, 2012, he became the first ethnic minority to speak for the conservatives from the Dispatch Box when he stepped in at Justice Questions when two Justice Ministers ( Ken Clarke, Lord Chancellor and Nick Herbert, Minister of State) were unable to attend. He was also Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Courts and Legal Aid from 2013 to 2016 and as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2015 to 2016. He returned to the backbenches in July 2016, having been removed from his positions by the new prime minister Theresa May. In the January 2018 reshuffle, he re-entered government as Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office (NIO), serving under Karen Bradley. In November 2018, Vara resigned from this role in opposition to May's draft Brexit withdrawal agreement. During the July 2022 United Kingdom government crisis, Vara was appointed by Boris Johnson as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland but was dismissed by Liz Truss on 6 September 2022.[2]

In 2014, Vara was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee. It is the highest award for Indian origin persons living abroad. Vara received the award for promoting ties between the UK and India, and for being the first Indian origin minister for the Conservative party.[3]

Early life and career

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Shailesh Vara was born on 4 September 1960 in Uganda to Gujarati Indian immigrants. He moved to Britain with his family in 1964 and had a Hindu upbringing.[4][5] Vara went to Aylesbury Grammar School, before studying law at Brunel University, where he qualified as a solicitor.

He worked in the City of London and West End of London, as well as in Hong Kong from 1989-1990.[6] Vara has been a senior legal adviser and business consultant for London First, and is a former vice-president of the Small Business Bureau.[7]

Political career

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Vara has been involved with the Conservative Party since the late 1980s and has held various posts at local, regional and national levels. He served as a Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2001 to 2005.[8] In this position, he had a broad range of responsibilities, including advising Michael Howard, deputising for the Party chairman, party spokesman with the media and looking after Conservative Future (which comprises the 10,000 or so people in the party under 30).

Since the 1990s Vara spoke frequently at Party Conferences including opening key debates on the economy and law and order.

At the 1997 general election, Vara stood in Birmingham Ladywood, coming second with 13.3% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP Clare Short.[9][10]

At the Conservative Party Conference in 2000, he was awarded the accolade of official "rising star" of the Party, with Lord Alexander of Weedon describing him as a "future Conservative Party leader".[11]

Vara stood in Northampton South in the 2001 general election, coming second with 41.1% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MP Tony Clarke.[12]

In November 2000, Clarke caused controversy when he said his chances of success against Vara were increased because Vara, as a Ugandan born Hindu, was "unable to rely on the Asian vote" in a town with Muslim communities. Clarke added that "the 20% rural [vote] have shown themselves in the past to be quite racist in their voting." [13]

Parliamentary career

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At the 2005 general election, Vara was elected to Parliament as MP for North West Cambridgeshire with 45.8% of the vote and a majority of 9,833.[14]

The Breast Cancer Bill was Vara's chosen issue after he was one of 20 MPs who were selected at random to introduce a private member's bill to the House of Commons in 2006.[15] He has campaigned to broaden the age of routine breast cancer screening for women from 50–70 age group to 45–75 years. The proposal was not supported by the then Labour government, which Vara claimed effectively blocked its progress by talking through to the end of the debate.[16]

Vara gave his backing to Breast Cancer Campaign's (BCC) award-winning national "wear it pink" day, and showed his support for breast cancer charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer at a meeting in the House of Commons.[17]

At the 2010 general election, Vara was re-elected as MP for North West Cambridgeshire with an increased vote share of 50.5% and an increased majority of 16,677.[18][19] He was again re-elected at the 2015 general election with an increased vote share of 52.5% and an increased majority of 19,795.[20][21]

Vara was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 Brexit referendum in June 2016.[22]

At the snap 2017 general election, Vara was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 58.6% and a decreased majority of 18,008.[23]

Early on 15 November 2018, Vara announced his resignation as a Northern Ireland Minister on Twitter, posting his letter of resignation. His resignation followed the previous day's marathon-length cabinet meeting to discuss the draft Brexit withdrawal agreement.[24][25]

In the 2019 Conservative leadership election, he initially backed the ultimately unsuccessful candidacy of Dominic Raab.[26]

At the 2019 general election, Vara was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 62.5% and an increased majority of 25,983.[27]

In November 2019, Vara stood unsuccessfully for the role of Speaker of the House of Commons.[28]

Following the State Opening of Parliament by HM Queen Elizabeth II on 11 March 2021, Vara had the honour, usually reserved for a senior parliamentarian, to propose the Loyal Address, starting the five day Queen's speech debate at the start of a new Parliamentary session. The speech is normally delivered to a packed House of Commons but uniquely, on this occasion, during the COVID pandemic, Vara spoke of the "dark shadow" of the pandemic as he addressed a much smaller number of MP's, all socially distanced and wearing safety masks [29]

On 7 July 2022, Vara was appointed as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland by outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson, replacing Brandon Lewis.[30] He was sworn as a member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council on 8 July, entitling him to the style "The Right Honourable" for life.[31] He was the last person to be personally sworn into the Privy Council by the late HM Queen Elizabeth II.[32] He was dismissed by Liz Truss on 6 September.

In May 2024, Vara presented a New Bhagavad Gita, one of Hinduism's most sacred texts to the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Rt Hon Sir Lindsay Hoyle MP. The Gita was blessed at a temple in Mayapur India, and following the July 2024 general election it has been used by Hindu MPs taking the oath of allegiance to the Crown, before taking their seats in Parliament.[33]

At the 2024 general election, Vara lost his seat by 39 votes to Labour's Sam Carling.[34]

Personal life

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Vara has a black belt in taekwondo; and is a former instructor of the martial art. He is married to Beverley and has two sons, Sam and Max.[35]

He had a brief appearance in the Oscar winning film the "Iron Lady", starring Meryl Streep; and is mentioned in the credits.[36]

Vara was made an Honorary fellow of Brunel University in 2010.[37]

References

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  1. ^ Rt Hon Shailesh Vara (3 July 2024). A proven record of delivery for taking a very tough line on law and order and anti-social behaviour. Retrieved 14 December 2024 – via Instagram.
  2. ^ "Liz Truss - live updates: Truss outlines three priorities as PM - as Raab and Shapps confirm departure". Sky News. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  3. ^ "Former CF India Chairman awarded highest award given to a NRI by the Indian Goverment". Conservative Friends. 21 January 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  4. ^ "15 Indian-origin MPs in new UK Parliament". The Times of India. 14 December 2019.
  5. ^ "British Law Minister Shailesh Vara's India visit to carry forward UK-India legal links". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 20 October 2015. The Minister already has close links to India. A Gujarati speaker, he was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the Indian Government earlier this year. He is also the first person of Gujarati origin to serve as a British Government Minister.
  6. ^ Grant shuffled out as PM names ex-City solicitor as new justice minister, Legal Futures, 7 October 2013
  7. ^ House of Commons, Class of 2005, The Guardian, 10 October 2005
  8. ^ "Parliamentary career for Shailesh Vara - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament".
  9. ^ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  10. ^ "UK General Election results May 1997". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 1 May 1992. Archived from the original on 28 February 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  11. ^ 'Rising star' hopes for Westminster ascent, BBC News, 28 May 2001
  12. ^ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  13. ^ Hall, Sarah; correspondent, political (18 November 2000). "Labour MP calls voters 'quite racist'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 September 2025. {{cite news}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
  14. ^ "BBC NEWS | Election 2005 | Results | Cambridgeshire North West". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 20 May 2024.
  15. ^ "Breast Cancer Bill". Shailesh Vara MP. Archived from the original on 15 July 2007. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  16. ^ Vara, Shailesh. "Government Blocks Breast Cancer Bill". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  17. ^ Wear it pink for cancer campaign Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Peterborough Telegraph, 24 October 2006
  18. ^ Cambridgeshire North West, BBC News
  19. ^ Cambridgeshire North-West, UKPollingReport
  20. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  21. ^ "Cambridgeshire North West parliamentary constituency - Election 2015 - BBC News". Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  22. ^ "EU vote: Where the cabinet and other MPs stand". BBC News. 22 June 2016.
  23. ^ "Candidates standing in the General Election in Cambridgeshire". 12 May 2017.
  24. ^ McCormack, Jayne (15 November 2018). "Brexit deal: NIO Minister of State Shailesh Vara resigns". BBC News.
  25. ^ "READ IN FULL: Shailesh Vara's resignation letter to Theresa May over 'half-way house' Brexit deal". 15 November 2018.
  26. ^ "Peterborough MP Shailesh Vara backs Dominic Raab as next Prime Minister". Peterborough Telegraph. 17 June 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  27. ^ "Cambridgeshire North West Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  28. ^ https://www.hansardsociety.org.uk/events/house-of-commons-speaker-hustings-2019
  29. ^ .https://www.shaileshvara.com/parliament/vara-moves-loyal-address
  30. ^ "Ministerial appointments: July 2022". GOV.UK. 7 July 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  31. ^ "List of Business 8th July 2022" (PDF). Privy Council of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  32. ^ Singh, Mohnish. "MP Vara pays tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II and is last person to be personally sworn into Privy Council by her | EasternEye". www.easterneye.biz. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  33. ^ "Sacred Hindu text presented to the House of Commons". www.parliament.uk. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  34. ^ "North West Cambridgeshire 2024 Election Results". Cambridge News. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  35. ^ "New Model Tories: Tory tribes". The Independent. 23 September 2006. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  36. ^ "Shailesh Vara". IMDb. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  37. ^ Vara was made an Honorary fellow of Brunel University in 2010.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for North West Cambridgeshire
2005–2024 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
2022 		Succeeded by