Lord Dholakia’s rise to politics via the pub

His first visit to a pub was the unlikely starting point for Lord Navnit Dholakia's political career.

Aged 18 and studying at Brighton Technical College, he arranged to meet a friend for a drink at the now-demolished Montpellier pub on the seafront. The friend didn’t show up and Dholakia was feeling nervous as this was his first time in a pub. There were three young men sitting at a table in the corner, and one of them came up to talk to Dholakia. The guy told him that they were the Young Liberals and that they couldn’t get on with their meeting because they didn’t have a quorum. Dholakia had no idea what this young man was talking about and asked what a quorum meant. The guy said that they needed four people to make a quorum, and if Dholakia joined the Liberal Party they could get on with their meeting. All he had to do was pay half a crown, which he did. The rest is history.

The 74-year-old is the most senior Indian politician in any of the Western democracies. Born in Tanzania, he came to the UK to study chemistry in Brighton and after joining the Young Liberals, was elevated to be the Chairman of the Brighton Young Liberals in 1959 before moving onto representative politics by being elected to the Brighton Borough Council in 1961.

The next step for Dholakia was becoming the Development Officer for the National Committee for Commonwealth Immigrants in 1966. Three years later, Dholakia became Secretary of the Liberal Party’s Race and Community Relations Panel aged just 30. Keeping up with his battle for international relations, Dholakia worked for the Commission for Racial equality from 1976 and was a member of the Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain.

Dholakia’s expertise includes Home Affairs, which is why he was frontbench spokesperson on Home Affairs after being an assistant whip between 1997 and 2002. Dholakia’s tangible passion for communication between multicultural communities was acknowledged when he was elected Party President for the Liberal Democrat Peers in both 1999 and 2002. He finally became joint Deputy Leader in November 2004.

Besides Home Affairs, his interests include criminal justice and penal affairs. His personal interests include photography, gardening, travelling, and cooking. Living by his own advice, he believes that one has to, “Be very honest, don’t lead people up the garden path and be humble.”

He continually involves himself with linking business between Britain and India and inspires loyalty from all over the world. While Dholakia was born in Tanzania, he is innately Indian and says that his experiences in both Africa and India have formed him into what he is today. Living in a small village in Africa, he intermingled with a very small community, sometimes of no more than fourteen families. But even so, Dholakia explains that people of all types of means mingled together, which is where he inherently learnt his acceptance for all peoples of the world.

Last month, Dholakia’s contributions to British politics were recognised with the GG2 Leadership Hammer award. Now in its 13th year, the GG2 Hammer is the most prestigious of the GG2 Leadership and Diversity Awards and is presented to someone who has broken the proverbial glass ceiling. Dholakia definitely deserves this honour, and there's no doubt he will continue to push on in years to come.

Oksana Trofimenko