Piara Khabra
| Piara Khabra | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for Ealing Southall |
|
|
In office 9 April 1992 – 19 June 2007 |
|
| Preceded by | Syd Bidwell |
| Succeeded by | Virendra Sharma |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
20 November 1921 Punjab, India |
| Died | 19 June 2007 (aged 85) Hammersmith Hospital, London |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse(s) | 2nd, Beulah Khabra |
| Alma mater | Punjab University |
| Profession | Politician |
| Religion | Sikh |
Piara Singh Khabra (20 November 1921 – 19 June 2007) was a British politician who served as the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Ealing Southall from 1992 until his death. He was the fifth Asian, and the first Sikh, to become a British MP. From the retirement of Sir Edward Heath in 2001 until his death, Khabra was the oldest MP sitting in the House of Commons, and at the end of his career was the only sitting MP to have served in the British Commonwealth's forces during the Second World War.
Khabra was born into a well-off Sikh farming family in the Punjab, then part of British India. Khabra gave his year of birth as 1924, but his marriage certificate dated it as 1921. He attended Khalsa High School and Punjab University, but his education was interrupted by the Second World War, and he served in the Indian Army between 1942 and 1946. He returned to university after the war, earning a degree in social services.
He joined the Communist Party of India, and became a teacher in an elementary school. Refused a visa to emigrate to the United States, he moved to the United Kingdom in 1959 leaving his wife and son behind in Punjab. In 1964 Khabra sponsored his son for immigration to UK where he completed an engineering degree. Khabra did not have a close relationship with his son who later immigrated to Canada to further his studies. Khabra's first wife and mother of his son immigrated to Canada in 1974 where she lived with her son until her death in 1985.
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