Keith Vaz is the first elected Asian Member of Parliament since Shapurji Saklatvala in the 1920s and remains the longest-standing Asian MP. Vaz was first elected Member of Parliament for Leicester East in June 1987 and was re-elected in June 2010. He has held a number of parliamentary posts, including being a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, of which he has been the Chair since July 2007; he has previously been Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Attorney General and Solicitor General; and formerly the Minister for Europe, Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Other positions currently held include as an elected member of the National Executive Committee and as the Vice-Chair of Women, Race and Equality Committee of the Labour Party. He has held both of these positions since March 2007. Since 2000, he has been a patron of the Labour Party Race Action Group and in 2006 he was appointed the Chairman of the Ethnic Minority Taskforce.

• published: 13 Jan 2014
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