[Lord] Waheed Alli, 59, was appointed Sir Keir Starmer’s chief campaign fundraiser in 2022. He became the youngest peer in history when Sir Tony Blair appointed him to the House of Lords in 1998.
Lord Waheed Alli, 59, was appointed Sir Keir Starmer’s chief campaign fundraiser in 2022. He became the youngest peer in history when Sir Tony Blair appointed him to the House of Lords in 1998.
Lord Alli, who has said his “heart and soul” are devoted to Labour, told the Financial Times in 2011 that his politics were “the politics of sexuality, or equality,” and was reportedly introduced to the party by his neighbour, Labour MP Emily Thornberry.
Upon his appointment to the House of Lords, the BBC described him as “the antithesis of the stereotypical ‘establishment‘ peer – young, Asian and from the world of media and entertainment”.
As a peer, he used his position to spearhead the battle over the repeal of Margaret Thatcher’s notorious Section 28 legislation which had banned local authorities from “promoting homosexuality”, and advocated for lowering the age of consent for gay men from 18 to 16.
Lord Alli: ‘I was called sinful and dirty. And that was in a Lords debate‘
The battle – and strength of feeling – is all a little bit reminiscent of 1999 when he was involved in the first piece of gay equality legislation. “I was called ‘sinful’, ‘disgraceful’ and ‘dirty’,” he says. “And that was in a debate in the House of Lords – it was awful. I’d only been there a few months. When the whip came back and reported that we’d lost by a huge number, I felt physically sick.
“I thought – I hate this place and I don’t want to be here. This is just the most awful place. Why on earth do I want to be here? But then Margaret Jay, who was Leader of the House of Lords, stood up and walked to the despatch box and said: ‘My Lords, I am instructed by my Right Honourable Friend the Prime Minister to inform this House that he will for only the second time this century use the Parliament Act to ensure safe passage of this Bill on to the Statute Book. In that one moment I thought Tony Blair; you did what Bill Clinton didn’t do. You didn’t walk away from this. You absolutely took it through.”
Alli points out that in every single year afterwards the Lords has put through a piece of equality legislation – and never lost another vote. He is hoping the record will continue on Tuesday.
He divides the opponents of gay marriage into two distinct categories. “There are those who have deeply held religious views and then there is a second group who oppose now but will probably repent later.
“They were the type of people who voted against the equalisation of consent and regretted it. They are the people who voted against civil partnerships and regretted it. And I’ll believe they’ll vote against gay marriage and they’ll regret it in five years’ time.
“I telephone them, I write to them I text them I try and make them turn up. I try and discuss the issues that worry them. It’s all the things you would expect me to do.”
But he is also attempting to persuade the Bishops – 26 of whom have seats in the Lords – not to present a unified front against gay marriage and to recognise that they do not speak for the whole Church when they oppose it.
To this end he recently had a meeting with the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, that led to a rather remarkable public letter from the Bishop of Salisbury that challenged Church of England orthodoxy.
“I said that I knew there were people in the Church – such as the Bishop of Salisbury – who were supportive of gay marriage and I asked him [that] if I went to see him and asked him to do a piece would he have your blessing? He said ‘Absolutely. And that goes for any bishop.’”
So that’s what Alli did; leading to a 1,200-word letter from the Bishop, now being sent to every peer, in which he explains why he does not agree with the current orthodoxy.
According to Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waheed_Alli,_Baron_Alli
Alli started work as a junior researcher for a finance magazine, crediting his first success to Salem Ghayar, who hired and mentored him. After a few years of preparing monthly reports for potential investors, he was headhunted by Save & Prosper, part of Robert Fleming & Co.[10] Eventually he returned to his original employer, and worked his way up in the media business within Robert Maxwell‘s stable of publications.
He then went to the City for a second career in investment banking, through which he became wealthy.[11] In the mid-1980s he met Charlie Parsons, who was to become his business partner as well as his life partner.[12]
Alli’s third career, and the first in which he achieved public prominence, was in the television industry. He and Parsons set up 24 Hour Productions, which produced The Word, “the most talked about television programme in Britain”.[7] In 1992 they merged with Bob Geldof‘s Planet Pictures to form Planet 24. Such was its success that it became one of the largest TV production companies in the country, and the main independent supplier to Channel 4.[7] It was responsible for genre-breaking programmes such as Big Breakfast and Survivor. Carlton Television bought Planet 24 in March 1999 for £15 million, with Alli and Parsons retaining the rights to the lucrative Survivor format. Waheed Alli became a Carlton board director before stepping down a year later.[13]
In April 2003, Alli took over as chairman of the media rights company Chorion Ltd,[14] which owns rights to Enid Blyton and Agatha Christie, and has offices beyond the UK in New York, Sydney, and Tokyo.[15] He was chairman of AIM-listed ASOS.com[16] and a director of Olga Television, entertainer Paul O’Grady‘s production company. He also backed Shine Limited, Elisabeth Murdoch’s media production company, which she later sold to 21st Century Fox (owned by her father Rupert Murdoch) for £211 million.[17] In August 2011, he stepped down from the chairmanship of Chorion, selling half his stake in ASOS.com the next month for £14.25 million.[18] The sale helped to finance Alli’s new company, Silvergate Media, and its purchase of the rights to Beatrix Potter and Octonauts from Chorion.[19]
He maintains ties with his Caribbean roots, both with other British-Guyanese politicians such as Valerie Amos and Trevor Phillips, and with President Bharrat Jagdeo.[24]”
Alli joined the Labour Party at the persuasion of his neighbour Emily Thornberry, to whom he remains close.[22] He is also close to Anji Hunter, Director of Government Relations in Tony Blair‘s first government.[23] Prime Minister Blair used him for years as a means to help him reach out to a younger generation (aka “youth subculture“).[11][24] He was made a life peer as Baron Alli, of Norbury in the London Borough of Croydon, on 18 July 1998[25][26] at the age of 34, becoming the youngest and the first openly gay peer in Parliament. He sits on the Labour benches in the House of Lords. The BBC summarised his appointment as “the antithesis of the stereotypical ‘establishment‘ peer – young, Asian and from the world of media and entertainment”.[11]
Alli has used his political position to argue for gay rights.[27] He spearheaded the campaign to repeal Section 28.[28] He advocated lowering the age of consent for homosexuals from 18 to 16, equal to heterosexuals; this eventually became law as the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000. It was during a heated exchange with conservative opponents, led by Baroness Young, that he informed his fellow peers that he was gay. In April 1999, he said in a speech, “I have never been confused about my sexuality. I have been confused about the way I am treated as a result of it. The only confusion lies in the prejudice shown, some of it tonight [i.e. in the House], and much of it enshrined in the law.”[11][29]
In 2006, he participated in the International Conference on LGBT Human Rights adopting the Declaration of Montreal and in 2009, he spearheaded an effort to repeal clauses in the Civil Partnership Act 2004 which prohibited religious institutions from conducting the ceremonies on their premises.[30][31][32] This campaign culminated in a bipartisan amendment, which became part of the Equality Act 2010.[33][34] He influenced the draft Communications Bill in 2003.[15]
Under the leadership of Keir Starmer, Alli has led the Labour Party’s fundraising efforts.[35] In 2024, The Guardian reported that Alli had donated £500,000 to the party since 2020, as well as giving Starmer personal donations worth over £50,000.[36]
In August 2024, The Times reported that Alli had been given unrestricted access to 10 Downing Street, uncommon for anyone not formally employed in the Prime Minister’s office, and that he had held a reception for party donors in the Downing Street garden.[37] Pat McFadden later told Sky News that he did not think that Alli still held a Downing Street pass.[36] He was also reported to have gifted Starmer nearly £16,200 of free clothing, which initially was not properly declared, while Starmer’s wife, Victoria, was given £5,000 of free clothing, which at first was not declared.[38] The Daily Telegraph referred to Alli’s loan of a “swanky” apartment to the Starmers, with a value of £20,000, as “donor-gate.”[39] Labour MPs repeatedly used the apartment. On Dec. 13, 2021, Starmer recorded there a Christmas message urging the public to work from home, while giving the impression he was in his own home, with a family photo behind him.[40]
The Telegraph also reported that Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner faced an investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner over the use of Alli’s $2.5-million New York apartment.[41] On Sept. 27, Starmer admitted Alli gave him £32,000 to pay for clothing, double what he had previously declared.[42]
Philanthropy
Alli’s work has focused on gay rights, youth and education.
He is the President of the Croydon Youth Development Trust.[43] He is a patron of Skillset,[44] the Sector Skills Council supporting skills and training within the creative media industries.
In 2002 he became a patron of The Albert Kennedy Trust, stating: “Being a teenager isn’t easy and it’s particularly difficult for vulnerable and socially excluded members of our community. The Albert Kennedy Trust offers young gay men, lesbians and bisexuals a unique and targeted service. My first task as Patron will be to support plans to extend these services across the UK, to help the increasing number of young people contacting the Trust.” Alli is a patron of Oxford Pride, the annual Pride event in Oxfordshire, of Pride London and of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.[45]