Navnit Dholakia, Baron Dholakia

Navnit Dholakia, Baron Dholakia OBE PC DL (born 4 March 1937) is a British Liberal Democrat politician and the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. He is one of the most senior Asian politicians in Britain.

Educated in India and Tanzania, Dholakia came to Britain to study at Brighton Technical College. He became active in the Liberal party and was elected to the Brighton Borough Council.

From 1976 he served as member of the Commission for Racial Equality and has been involved in the Sussex Police Authority, Police Complaints Authority and Howard League for Penal Reform. He is the current chair of Nacro.

Dholakia was made a life peer as Baron Dholakia, of Waltham Brooks in the County of West Sussex, in 1997, and sat on the Liberal Democrat benches in the House of Lords.

From 1997 to 2002 he served as a Liberal Democrat whip in the Lords, and from 2002 to 2004 he was the Home Affairs Spokesman.

He was elected President of the Liberal Democrats at the end of 1999 and served in the post from 2000 to 2004. In November 2004 he was elected joint Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. In 2010 he became the sole Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords.

Lord Dholakia is involved with a range of charities including being a Patron of the British...
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