Munira Mirza | |
|---|---|
| Director of theNumber 10 Policy Unit | |
| In office 24 July 2019 – 3 February 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | James Marshall |
| Succeeded by | Andrew Griffith |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 1978 (age 46) Oldham,Greater Manchester, England |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
| Academic background | |
| Education |
|
| Thesis | Between Universalism and Diversity: Contradictions of Local Cultural Policy in Tower Hamlets and Oldham (2009) |
| Doctoral advisor | Frank Furedi |
Munira Mirza (born May 1978) is a British political advisor who served as Director of theNumber 10 Policy Unit under Prime MinisterBoris Johnson from 2019 until she resigned in February 2022. She previously worked under Johnson as Deputy Mayor for Education and Culture when he wasMayor of London.
Mirza was born inOldham,Greater Manchester, England.[1] Her family came to the United Kingdom fromPakistan;[2][3] her father found work in a factory while her mother was a housewife and taught Urdu part-time.[4] She had two older brothers and an older sister.[5] Mirza went toBreeze Hill School until 16, then moved toOldham Sixth Form College for her A-levels.[6] She was the only pupil in herSixth Form college to gain a place atOxford University,[7] where she readEnglish Literature atMansfield College, graduating in 1999. In 2004 she received aMaster of Arts in Social Research at theUniversity of Kent followed by a PhD in Sociology underFrank Furedi in 2009.[8][9][10][11][12]: 66
Early on, Mirza was involved in revolutionary politics,[13] including being a member of theRevolutionary Communist Party, a small group that dissolved in 1997.[14][4][12] She contributed to its magazine,Living Marxism, which was dissolved after losing a libel case toITN overLiving Marxism's claim that there had been noBosnian genocide. Staff fromLiving Marxism later formed theSpiked website, for which she has also written articles.[15]
Many of Mirza's Revolutionary Communist Party colleagues became influential inConservative PartyEurosceptic circles after the dissolution of their party, while remaining closely associated with each other's endeavours.[16][17]
Mirza has said that "I became a bit of a 'museums junkie' in my early twenties. My first job in the arts sector was at theRoyal Society of Arts, where I became especially interested in the politics of culture – why we value what we do, how to make the arts more accessible, and why public interest in the arts matters. From there, I started a PhD in Sociology, looking particularly at the politics of culture."[18] She worked briefly at theTate Gallery.[18]
During 2005 to 2007, Mirza worked as Development Director for the conservative think-tankPolicy Exchange.[19] While she was there, she edited a collection of essays,Culture Vultures: Is UK Arts Policy Damaging the Arts?, which challenged the government's efforts to promote socially inclusive arts,[20][21] and wroteLiving Apart Together: British Muslims and the Paradox of Multiculturalism.[22]
In December 2009, she appeared in theBBC Radio 4 programmeGreat Lives, nominating the political philosopherHannah Arendt.[23]
From 2008 to 2016, Mirza worked for theMayor of London,Boris Johnson,[24] initially as Cultural Adviser, and Director of Arts, Culture and the Creative Industries. From 2012, she was one of six Deputy Mayors, being Deputy Mayor for Education and Culture.[4][25] She advised the Mayor on priorities for culture and education and led the delivery of key programmes, including £40m education and youth investment in London.[26] In 2014, Mirza said that she was not a Conservative.[4][5]
Her bookThe Politics of Culture: The Case for Universalism was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2012.[27] In it, she argued that consensus about the value of cultural diversity had bred ambivalence.[28]
In 2016, Mirza was a vocal advocate ofBrexit, a stance which, in cultural circles, she later described as "the new being gay".[29] She said thereferendum result was achieved through a process of democracy that, in some way, echoedMagna Carta.[30]
In 2018, Mirza was mentioned by theNew Statesman as a possible Conservative Party candidate for the2020 London mayoral election.[31]
In January 2019, she joinedKing's College London as Executive Director of Culture, leading the institution's cultural strategy together with oversight of theScience Gallery London atGuy's Campus.[32]
On 24 July 2019, following her former boss Johnson becomingPrime Minister, Mirza was appointed Director of theNumber 10 Policy Unit, replacingJames Marshall.[33] Mirza drafted financial policy in this role.[34][35][36]
In 2020, Johnson named her as one of the five women whom he "most admires".[37]
In November 2020, ITV political editorRobert Peston said inThe Spectator that calls for the BBC's "cultural re-education", which many assumed came from Johnson's former adviserDominic Cummings, actually came from Mirza and her husband.[38]
On 3 February 2022, she resigned as Johnson's adviser, citing comments he had made in the House of Commons, accusing the Labour leaderKeir Starmer of being responsible for failing to prosecute the paedophileJimmy Savile – claims which the BBC described as "widely debunked".[39] In her letter of resignation she stated "There was no fair or reasonable basis for that assertion. This was not the usual cut and thrust of politics; it was an inappropriate and partisan reference to a horrendous case of child sex abuse."[40] She was succeeded byAndrew Griffith.[41]
Mirza is a member ofArts Council England, London Area Council; and the board of theInstitute of Contemporary Arts.[42] She is also a member of the board at theRoyal Opera House[43] and theIlluminated River Foundation.[44] She is the director of HENI Talks, a non-profit initiative to promote art history online.[44] Mirza has a record of advocating for public investment in the arts, but has also warned that organisations will need to become "more entrepreneurial and look for ways to stretch their resources", including through corporate sponsorship.[28]
In 2006, Mirza was critical of the multiculturalism encouraged byNew Labour, claiming that it accentuated differences between groups, encouraging conflict; she stated that treating people differently "fuels a sense of exclusion".[29] Writing inThe Spectator in 2017, Mirza described the anti-racism movement as a "bogus moral crusade" imported from the US, "...with its demented campus dramas and neuroses about 'safe spaces', 'micro-aggressions' and 'cultural appropriation'".[45]
She has attracted criticism for saying that "it seems that a lot of people in politics think it's a good idea to exaggerate the problem of racism", noting thatTheresa May's proposed racial disparities audit for public services set the scene for "another bout of political self-flagellation regarding the subject of race in Britain", whilst "accusations of institutional racism – and their official endorsement – have corrodedBAME communities' trust in public services, thereby making things worse."[2][3] As well as calling May's racial disparities audit a "phoney race war", Mirza also describedThe Lammy Review of 2017 into the treatment of BAME groups in the justice system as "wrongheaded" and "misleading".[45]
On Johnson's column criticising Denmark for banning theburqa,[46] in which he likened the garment's wearers to 'bank robbers' and 'letterboxes', she said "there are many people in this country who are uncomfortable about the burqa. When people argue we should use more sensitive language what they are really saying is let's not be critical at all, let's not offend, let's not criticise this practice because it upsets Muslims",[2][3] further defending Johnson's comments as "reasoned, balanced and thoughtful".[47]
Regarding theWindrush scandal, Mirza claimed that "the real lesson is not one of racism, as in the deliberate targeting of ethnic minority groups, rather it is that the process of immigration enforcement needs to be improved".[48]
In June 2020, following theGeorge Floyd protests, Mirza was asked to establish theCommission on Race and Ethnic Disparities. Her involvement attracted controversy, given her doubts about the existence ofinstitutional racism and her criticism of previous reports on race relations.[49]
In 2008, Mirza married Conservative political advisorDougie Smith.[50] They have a son, Robbie (born 2013).[4][50]
After earning a first from Oxford Mirza studied for a PhD in sociology under Furedi's supervision at Kent.
The head of the Policy Unit, Munira Mirza, is a former member of the Revolutionary Communist Party, a Trotskyite groupuscule, and enthusiastic contributor to its house organ,Living Marxism.
Directors ofNumber 10 Policy Unit | ||
|---|---|---|
| Harold Wilson |
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| James Callaghan |
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| Margaret Thatcher |
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| John Major |
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| Tony Blair |
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| Gordon Brown |
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| David Cameron |
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| Theresa May |
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| Boris Johnson |
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| Liz Truss |
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| Rishi Sunak |
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| Keir Starmer |
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