Introduction

In comparison with many other European countries, Britain's ethnic minorities have been very successful at achieving political representation and making an impact on the political system. Whereas migrants and their descendants in other countries may have struggled for years to gain the right to vote and stand in elections, Commonwealth migrants to Britain from her former colonies were automatically given the right to citizenship, including full political rights. This even pre-dated the mass migration to Britain of the 1950s and 1960s, and three Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Indian subcontinent, though none Muslim, were elected to the House of Commons before World War II (Anwar 2001). Even today, citizens of the Commonwealth countries have full voting rights at all levels and can stand as candidates. Muslims have certainly played an important role in British electoral politics – be they migrants, British-born or even converts to Islam. The vast majority of Muslims in the UK trace their heritage to South Asia and it is they who have made the biggest impact. The first Muslim in Britain to hold elected office was Bashir Maan who emigrated from Pakistan to Britain in 1953. He became a City Councillor in Glasgow in 1970 and it was in that same city that Mohammad Sarwar was elected as the first Muslim MP in 1997.