Following a remarkable victory in the general elections, Britain's new Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his cabinet on Friday. Lisa Nandy, of Indian descent, who has once again won from Wigan Parliamentary Constituency, has been entrusted with the key responsibility of Minister for Culture, Media, and Sport by Starmer.
44-year-old Lisa Nandy was one of the final three contenders in the Labour Party leadership election in January 2020, where she faced competition from Starmer and another candidate. Since then, she has served in the shadow cabinet and will now take over the ministry from Lucy Frazer, one of Rishi Sunak’s ministers who lost in the election.
In her victory speech addressing a public gathering in Greater Manchester on Friday, Nandy said, 'To those indulging in vile, hateful, and racist politics, I want to tell you that Wigan’s history is rooted in working-class people who have repeatedly rejected you and your hate from our town for over 100 years.'
She continued, 'Take this election result as our marching orders. We are a better town than you. You are not welcome here. You can take your vile, divisive rhetoric somewhere else because we have work to do.'
Lisa Nandy, daughter of Calcutta-born educator Dipak Nandy and a British mother, was born in Manchester. Over the years, during Labour Party events, she has spoken about her Indian heritage. Her father is known in Britain for his work in the field of race relations.
A few years back, during a party event in Brighton, she said, 'Friends, today we meet in a city built by immigrants, a city looking out to the sea. My father came here from India in the 1950s and helped shape our national story through the struggle to create race relations acts. A country that honours us to understand how to bring changes worldwide.'
Mentioning the Indian independence movement led by Mahatma Gandhi, she said, 'A century ago, when cotton stopped flowing, mills ceased operations, and workers were hungry. My family members worked in those mills and were among the people in Lancashire who welcomed Gandhi... There's strength in unity. Our struggle is one.' She referred to Gandhi's famous 1931 visit to Lancashire, where he met mill workers facing hardships.
Please note, the Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, has secured a landslide victory in the British general election. After 14 years of sitting in the opposition, the Labour Party has made a comeback to power. In the election for 650 seats in the House of Commons, Starmer’s main opposition Labour Party has won 410 seats.
