After Nina Davuluri wowed Americans by winning the Miss America crown earlier this month, a British MP of Indian origin has now nearly scaled the top of the pecking order of UK’s most impressive politicians.
labour party MP of Indian origin Keith Vaz is now the third most impressive British politician, according to a survey released last week.The survey conducted by Ipsos MORI, the second largest market research organisation in the United Kingdom pegs Vaz at number three, two rungs below British foreign secretary William Hague, who tops the list and just below Prime Minister David Cameron.
“Ipsos MORI interviewed 111 Members of Parliament between June 10 and August 2, 2013,” the survey company’s website reads.
Nigel Keith Anthony Standish Vaz aka Keith Vaz’s, family traces its origins to Goa and had moved to UK from Aden, in Africa. Vaz is the longest-serving Asian Member of Parliament from leicester East in the UK, while his sister Valerie was also a labour MP from Walsall South.
The survey states that Vaz, who won 20 per cent approval from his fellow MPs, is the top performing labour politicians for the current year.
“Keith Vaz is the highest performing labour politician, coming third this year,” the website reads, adding that David Cameron rose from fourth place in 2012 to second place this year, while leader of Opposition and British labour leader Ed Miliband fell from the third slot last year to number 10 in popularity in 2013.
Vaz, who travels to Goa often, is involved in charitable chores here. But that does not stop the MP from sparing time for a political gig or two. In 2012, Vaz canvassed publicly for Congress candidate Valanka Alemao, who was contesting the Assembly segment of Benaulim in South Goa. She incidentally lost poorly to her rival Caitu D’Silva, an independent candidate.
Vaz, whose career has also been partially blemished due to his affinity to the Hinduja business clan, members of which were charged with corrupt business practices and has also been indicted by a parliament standards watchdog committee chief Elizabeth Filkin in 2000 for withholding financial information.
The former Europe Minister, whose constituency has a considerable chunk of Indian voters, had also campaigned for a ban on Salman Rushdie’s book ‘Satanic Verses’ in the past.
The Ipsis MORI survey is a part of a regular exercise which involves interviews with MPs to develop a representative survey, so that the marketing research agency’s clients “can better explore their relationship, reputation and communications with the House of Commons”.
“Ipsos MORI has extensive experience of conducting research among Parliamentarians. Our tried and tested approach means that we have a detailed knowledge of how stakeholders such as these regard companies, organisations and current issues,” the website states.