Rupa Huq was first elected as the Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton in 2015, gaining the seat from the Conservatives in a result that backed the national trend. Huq was reelected in 2019 with a majority of 13,300.
Dr Huq was suspended from the parliamentary labour party in September 2022, after she was recorded calling Chancellor, Kwarsi Kwarteng, ‘superficially black’ at a Labour party conference fringe meeting. Having sat as an independent for 6 months at Westminster, she regained the Labour whip in March 2023.
Ealing Central and Acton is a suburban seat in the eastern third of the London Borough of Ealing. It is the most affluent of the three Ealing constituencies. Briefly held by the Conservatives between 2010 and 2015, after its boundaries were first created, Labour gained this seat by just 232 votes in 2015. However with over 70% of the electorate supporting Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum, the Conservatives have polled less well here in the last two elections.
Born in 1972, Huq was educated at Cambridge before undertaking a PhD at East London University.
Huq was one of a few Labour MPs who nominated Jeremy Corbyn in the 2015 Labour leadership election but failed to back him in the subsequent contest, instead supporting Yvette Cooper. She then voted against Jeremy Corbyn when he was challenged by Owen Smith in 2016.
She supporter Keir Starmer in the 2020 Labour Leadership contest.
Prior to being elected to Parliament, she was a sociology lecturer at University of Manchester and Kingston University, and wrote for, amongst other newspapers, Tribune, The Guardian, New Statesman, Progress magazine and The Times Higher Education Supplement.
Her sister is the former Blue Peter presenter, Konnie Huq.
Rupa Huq used to be a DJ in Manchester, performing under the DJ-name of Dr Huq.
In her youth, Huq was seriously injured having been stabbed by two teenage girls when walking home in Manchester. She has said that the incident has led her to take a harder line against crime.
At Westminster she is Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on London’s Planning and the Built Environment, and Single Parent Families. She is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Aviation, Music, the Rights of the Rohingya, Social Integration, and Poland.
Email: rupa.huq.mp@parliament.uk
Personal Website: http://www.rupahuq.co.uk/
Twitter: twitter.com/rupahuq
