| Syed Kamall, Dr., MEP |
| 09-06-2006-- | |||
OBV profiles Conservative MEP Dr Syed Salah Kamall who is mooted to be a possible candidate to replace Bromley Tory MP Eric Forth and to join the list of Tory hopefuls for the London mayoral battle. Mr Forth’s death means a by-election will be held in the Kent constituency on June 29. Although Dr Kamall is both on the list of would-be candidates to replace Mr Forth and on the Tories’ A-list of candidates, which is intended to increase the number of women and ethnic minority MPs on the Tory benches, leader David Cameron has said that the local constituency association would not be expected to pick their candidate from the A-list.Dr Kamall is also understood to be under consideration along with other Tory hopefuls for the London mayoral elections in 2008. The Muslim son of a bus driver and a management consultant, Dr Kamall, 35, fought West Ham for the Tories in 2001 and had been touted as a deputy mayor to run alongside Steve Norris. He is a Member of the European Parliament for London and was elected in May 2005. He sits on the Trade and Economic and Monetary Affairs Committees. He is active in Conservative policy-making circles, using his academic expertise and background on issues such as poverty-action programmes. He has been a member of the Conservatives since 1987 and a member of Vauxhall, Bath, Westminster, West Ham and Barking Conservative associations. He was chairman of Vauxhall Conservative Association from 1993-94, honorary secretary of Conservative Policy Committee, Bath Conservative Association from 1995-96, and chairman of Eccleston Ward, Cities of London and Westminster Conservative Association in 1999. Dr Kamall was educated at the Latymer School, Edmonton, before obtaining a degree in electronic engineering from the University of Liverpool in 1988, followed by an MSc in information systems from the London School of Economics in 1989. Dr Kamall attained his doctorate on organisational change in transition economies from City University in 1994, after which he was a Research Fellow in international business, specialising in foreign direct investment and organisational change. He is a Visiting Fellow at Leeds University Business School and has written a book on EU telecommunications policy in 1996. He is particularly knowledgeable about developments in China. He is also a co-founder of the Global Business Research Institute, an educational body, with expertise on globalisation issues. He started his working life as a systems analyst at Nat West. In May 2000, Syed was a Conservative Candidate for the Greater London Assembly. The following year, he was Conservative candidate for West Ham in the June 2001 General Election. Syed is an associate of the Centre for Social Justice working to identify community based projects at the forefront of tackling poverty for the CSJ alliance. He also sits on board of the Conservative Party's Globalisation & Global Poverty working group. He backs plans to build Europe's largest Mosque in Abbey Mills, near Stratford. He is married to Sandira and divides his time between Brussels and his office in the Docklands. The Conservatives are planning to select their official candidate for the 2008 London mayoral election by the autumn through a US-style open primary which allows anyone to apply to be nominated to contest the position. Other potential Tory applicants for the mayoral candidacy are lesbian Conservative Party vice chairman and Chelsea millionaire Margot James, gay Westminster Council leader Sir Simon Milton, and twice-defeated candidate Steve Norris who stood against current London Mayor Ken Livingstone in 2000 and 2004. Mr Norris is threatening to make the "ultimate sacrifice" by running against Mr Livingstone for a third time if the party fails to find another "heavyweight" challenger ahead of the 2008 London election. The Conservatives are keen to lay the ground for a serious challenge to Mr Livingstone's reign in two years' time. By the time the next election comes around the elected mayor is expected to have more powers than currently enjoyed by Mr Livingstone. |
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