Three Indian-Origin MPs Secure Frontbench Positions in Andy Burnham's UK Cabinet Reshuffle. Who Are They?

In a notable reshuffle of Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s Labour government, three Indian-origin MPs have attained prominent frontbench roles.

Three newly elected British MPs of Indian origin have secured frontbench positions in Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s reshuffled Labour government following the July 2024 general election, marking a significant rise in representation at senior levels of government.

Kanishka Narayan, 36, has been appointed to the Cabinet as the UK’s first Artificial Intelligence minister in the newly created role. A practising Hindu, Narayan was born in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, and moved to Wales at the age of 12. He studied at Eton, Oxford and Stanford before entering politics and previously served as a junior minister.

Two Sikh women MPs elected for the first time in 2024 have also been promoted. Satvir Kaur, 41, has been named minister for safeguarding, violence against women and girls, and equalities. Her parents are originally from Punjab and ran a sari shop in Southampton. Harpreet Uppal, 43, has been appointed assistant whip.

The appointments mean Labour’s frontbench now includes two Hindus and two Sikhs. Uma Kumaran, a Hindu MP of Sri Lankan heritage, continues in government as a junior minister at the Foreign Office.

Meanwhile, two prominent MPs of Indian origin have left government following Burnham’s Cabinet reshuffle. Seema Malhotra, formerly the Indo-Pacific minister, and Preet Kaur Gill, previously a junior health minister, have both returned to the backbenches. Both, aged 53, trace their family roots to Jalandhar in Punjab and were considered close allies of former Labour leader Keir Starmer.

Following Labour’s poor performance in local elections earlier this year, both Gill and Malhotra publicly defended Starmer amid calls for his resignation.

Lisa Nandy, whose father Dipak Nandy was born in Kolkata, has retained her position as Culture Secretary and remains a member of the Cabinet. Nandy, 46, previously contested the Labour leadership against Starmer in 2020. Her political ties to Manchester, where Burnham served as mayor for nine years, are seen as strengthening her standing within the new administration.

Harpreet Uppal also shares links with Burnham, having worked on his successful Greater Manchester mayoral campaign in 2017. She represents Huddersfield, located close to Manchester, and has now been elevated to the government frontbench as assistant whip.