Ugandan Asians

Bob Stewart Excerpts

Thursday 6th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Paul Uppal (Wolverhampton South West) (Con)]

First, I thank my hon. Friend the Member for North West Cambridgeshire (Mr Vara) for securing this debate. As protocol, we refer to those on our Benches as hon. Friends, but I am happy to say that he is a personal friend. Interestingly, just as I am about to speak two other personal friends seem to have joined me. I am taking a bit of a risk in speaking without any notes or having preparing for the debate. I am not sure whether they are here to see me fall flat on my face, but I think their interests are benign.

Why am I here? I am of east African descent. My father came to this country from Kenya in 1961. He had less than £5 in his pocket and no idea of where he was going to sleep that night. He took that risk because he wanted to live in a country that had choice, freedom and opportunity. For my father, it was not too bad, but my uncle’s situation and story were slightly different. In Cusumo we ran a small electrical business and from the mid to late ’60s life was made very uncomfortable for my uncle.

[Bob Stewart (Beckenham) (Con)]

Cusumo in Uganda?

[Paul Uppal]

In Kenya. In essence, my uncle left with just the shirt on his back and the opportunity to come to the UK. He followed my father and came here. He was driven by those same principles of wanting to live in a country where he had opportunity, choice and freedom. That story was replicated by many thousands of people, and I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) for raising an issue that has been highlighted so often: in early 1968, in what Andrew Marr described as one of the most shameful periods of British politics, more than 40,000 Kenyan Asians were made stateless. It is important to put things in perspective, and what is so good about these Back-Bench debates is the quality of the debate. There is an attempt to be non-partisan, but it is sometimes important for us to have an honest and cathartic debate to recognise where shortfalls have occurred.

I was born in the UK and went to school here. When I think back to those early days, I recall that often between shutting the front door and getting to school I was told to go home on about half a dozen occasions. I was not sure where home was really. Home for me was a small two up, two down in Smethwick, where eight or 10 of us would sit around of an evening having a meal. What I encountered did not stop when I reached school. I am not going to embellish things and I can assure the House that this next story is a true one. In one of my technical drawing lessons when I was probably about 11 years old, the deputy head master was asking the students what we were going to do that evening and he asked—I will tone this down—whether anyone was going out bashing Asian people. I remember my spine getting very stiff. I was attempting to draw a straight line as he said that, but it wobbled as those last few words came out.

This debate, and the way in which it has been conducted, has brought back so many memories, and that is why I wanted to speak in it. I am now the Member for Wolverhampton South West, which was represented by Enoch Powell between 1950 and 1974, so therein lies another story. When Enoch Powell first won the seat in 1950 he had a majority of 691, as did I when I won my seat in 2010. If I feel a compulsion to make a radical speech in 16 years’ time in a Midland hotel, please feel free, my most respected friends, to hold me back and stop me—although I suspect that is unlikely.

I return to the main point of today’s debate and what we are, in essence, talking about. I picked up on one sentence from my hon. Friend the Member for North West Cambridgeshire: he said that this period showed Britain at its best. I know that the Minister and the shadow Minister are anxious to speak on this issue, so I will not delay them for too long. However, I think one thing encapsulates this period of British history more than anything else. I was listening recently to a chaplain from RAF Cosford talking about an experience that he had had. The term “concentration camp” has been used today, and he was speaking about his experience when visiting such a camp. I am not sure whether it was Auschwitz-Birkenau, but from the images he saw he was struck by one thing. He said, “If you have two rooms, one full of light and one full of darkness and you open the door to the one that has light, the light will spread into the darkness.” In this period of history we can look at the British role and at British politicians as spreading light into a time of darkness. It is important for us to remember that, especially as we take this issue forward.

I agree with my right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester East (Keith Vaz): the best days are ahead of us for the east African Asian community. Its contribution has been phenomenal. It is cathartic for me to stand in this wonderful Chamber and speak about these issues, especially as I have mentioned the history of growing up as a small boy in Smethwick, walking to school and having to face those experiences. I dare say that my father will be watching this speech—or perhaps even taping it, as even though he is retired he seems to be busier than I am. That is very much the ethos of so many east African Asians. He came here to work and he still does; he embodies the best that is British.

I have a Christian first name and a Sikh surname. I have always tried to live by the ethos of trying to combine the best of my British values with my traditional Indian values. I am not alone in that. All east African Asians who have come to this country—and many other migrants, if we are honest—have tried to adopt it. They enrich their host culture and the indigenous communities with which they mix. When we have that combination, we have a formula for success.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Don Foster)]

I begin by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for North West Cambridgeshire (Mr Vara) not only on securing the debate but on the passion with which he spoke. It is a great pleasure to respond on behalf of the Government in this commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the expulsion of the Ugandan Asians, welcoming the contribution they have made to Britain and their integration into the fabric of the nation. Like the hon. Member for Derby North (Chris Williamson), I am delighted that it has been a celebratory debate, uniting the whole House.

I am grateful for the contributions of all Members to the debate. My right hon. Friend the Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes) reminded us of the constant need to point to the huge contribution that many immigrants have made to the life of this country and that in relation to asylum seekers this must be a country that, in times of need, will not close its doors. The hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) echoed such views and spoke of the contribution of immigrants to many different aspects of life in this country, not least to our vibrant cultural life. She also rightly pointed to lessons to be learned and cited examples of legislation that did not show us at our most tolerant.

My hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman)—as he said, from the melting pot of Harrow East—praised those who came wanting to get on with it, encapsulating what is great about Britain. He reminded us of the contribution that many of the Ugandan Asians made in sports such as cricket and hockey. Above all, he made it clear, as did the hon. Member for Derby North, that Uganda’s loss was Britain’s gain.

[Bob Stewart]

Although I have not been present for the whole debate, I understand that no one has mentioned the courage of Ugandan Asian soldiers, sailors and airmen serving their new country. I want to put that on the record: thank you, Ugandan Asians.

[Mr Foster]

My hon. Friend makes his point in his usual eloquent way. I certainly support his remarks.

The hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Dr Whiteford) celebrated the contribution of one of her constituents, Vinay, who used his energy, compassion and entrepreneurial skills for the benefit of the local community. I thank her for that example. As she pointed out, he, like many others who came, gave far more to our society than they ever received from us.

The right hon. Member for Leicester East (Keith Vaz) made his usual powerful contribution. As we celebrate his 25 years in this place, he celebrated the contribution of Ugandan Asians, not only the first generation but now the next generation—the golden generation, as he described them—to rebuilding and transforming the city of Leicester, and what they are doing and have done since that time. As he said, and I am sure he is right, the best is yet to come.

My hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West (Sir Peter Bottomley) paid tribute to the one body that has not been mentioned other than by him, the resettlement board, which certainly deserves our praise for the work it did.