Rushanara Ali enters Deputy Leader’s race

Rushanara Ali is used to breaking barriers. It is no surprise to those who know her that her run for the Labour Party Deputy Leadership is both credible and serious.

Few people from Ali’s working class, Bengali background find themselves at the University of Oxford. After achieving that goal, she went on to become a senior civil servant and then an associate director of the Young Foundation, founded by her mentor the late Lord Michael Young.

There were some people who tried to persuade her not to take on the formidable opponent that is George Galloway when he was the MP for Bethnal Green. She rightly ignored the doubters and stood anyway. In the end Galloway didn't stand.

As an MP and Treasury spokesperson, she performed well on Ed Miliband’s front bench, before resigning over the Party’s position on the allied bombing of Iraq. Now Ali has her she sights on breaking another glass ceiling by becoming the party’s Deputy Leader.

There’s no doubt that there is a new era about to evolve since the crushing defeat Ed Miliband's party received. Come what may, Rushanara Ali will be part of that new era, and if her other contenders for the Deputy Leadership underestimate her, they’ll find out at their peril, that this is one smart woman who means business.

Good luck Rushanara.

Simon Woolley