2023 January 26

On Thursday 26 January, I and other Members of the House, faith leaders and the parliamentary community attended the Holocaust Memorial Day Ceremony in Parliament. The Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, urged people to “learn the lessons of the past”.   John Hajdu, a survivor of the Holocaust, Smajo Bešo, survivor of the genocide in Bosnia, and El Sadiq ‘Debay’ Manees, survivor of the genocide in Darfur were all present to light a candle.  

On Thursday 26 January I attended the #IndiaUKAchievers 75 at 75 event, for a lunch to celebrate Indian achievers and 75 years of Indian independence. The National Indian Students and Alumni Union (NISAU) was founded and organised by Sanam Arora. Sanam is the architect of the Achievers Honours and celebrates Indian students who study in the UK and make a contribution when they return to India. 

On 26 January 2023 Defence Minister Alex Chalk MP gave a statement to the House of Commons on plans for the UK, the US and Germany to send tanks to Ukraine. I asked a question to the Minister: ‘Does the Minister agree that we should strongly support the comments of the Secretary-General of NATO when he says that this is an important time to end the Russian tyranny and to remind people that Ukrainians are the victims? They did not ask to be invaded and we should support them until the end.’