Preceded by Janet Ludlow Name Anwara Ali Children 1 | Nationality British Succeeded by Joshua Peck Role British Politician | |
Born 15 September 1970 (age 53)
East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) ( 1970-09-15 ) Spouse(s) Reza Ahmed Faisol Choudhury Relations Jobed Ali (father)
Solima Khatun (mother)
Siraj Uddin (brother)
Shanara Begum (sister) Education Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry Political party Labour Party, Conservative Party Residence London Borough of Tower Hamlets, United Kingdom, London, United Kingdom, England, United Kingdom | ||
Anwara Ali (Bengali: আনোয়ারা আলী; born 15 September 1970) is a British Conservative Party politician, former councillor for Bow West, former Cabinet Member for Health and Well-being in Tower Hamlets and general practitioner in Spitalfields Practice.
Contents
Early life
Ali's parents are the late Jobed Ali, a businessman, and Solima Khatun. Ali was born in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and came to the United Kingdom as a young child, where she was educated. Her elder brother Siraj Uddin and sister Shanara Begum also live in the United Kingdom.
In 1997, Ali graduated with an MBBS from St. Bartholomew's and Royal London Medical School.
Career
Ali is local government councillor and lead Cabinet Member for Adult Health and Wellbeing in Tower Hamlets Council. In 2006, she entered politics as a Labour Party candidate in the Tower Hamlets Council elections. She won the Bow West seat despite only entering the election eight weeks before the polling date. She defeated Janet Ludlow, the Liberal Democrat opposition leader in Tower Hamlets, in a seat that had been under the control of the Liberal Democrats for 30 years. Ali and her colleagues achieved the biggest swing (15.6%) to Labour in the whole of London. In 2007, Ali campaigned for Harriet Harman to become deputy leader of the Labour Party, and Harman won. In February 2010, due to Labour's failure to reform the NHS, Ali defected to the Conservative Party. However, she failed to get re-elected in the following election in May.
Ali is a GP Principal and Partner at Spitalfields Practice in London. She also works for Tower Hamlets Primary Trust as the lead GP for cancer screening. She was chosen to front the NHS campaign locally to persuade Bengali-speaking women to sign up to breast screening programmes.
Ali serves on the Government's Woman Councillors Task Force, which was launched in Admiralty House in Whitehall, London. She is a patron of the Bow Community Association, as well as a founding member of the award-winning Social Action for Health. She also helped to establish the Nisa Association.
Ali is a presenter on Channel S's Health is Wealth programme, which discusses topical health issues and how to reduce health inequalities, especially in the Bangladeshi community. Ali was also asked by Tower Hamlets Health Authority to present a series of programmes entitled Communities in Action.
Ali is also a columnist for Bangla Mirror and the East London Advertiser.
Personal life
Ali is a Muslim. She is married to Reza Ahmed Faisol Choudhury and they have a son, Obaid Reza Jaami Al-Choudhury.