British multimillionaire media entrepreneur and politician. He was co-founder and managing director of Planet 24, a TV production company, and managing director at Carlton Television Productions. He is currently chairman of both ASOS.com and Chorion Ltd. He is a Labour peer and is one of very few openly gay Muslim politicians in the world.
He started work as a junior researcher for a finance magazine 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. In the mid-1980s he met Charlie Parsons, who was to become his business partner and boyfriend.
Alli joined the Labour Party at the persuasion of his neighbour Emily Thornberry. He is also close to Anji Hunter, Director of Government Relations in Tony Blair's first government.Prime Minister Blair used him for years as a means to help him reach out to a younger generation. He was made a life peer as Baron Alli, of Norbury in the London Borough of Croydon, in 1998 at the age of 34, becoming the youngest and the first openly gay peer in Parliament. The BBC summarised his appointment as "the antithesis of the stereotypical ‘establishment’ peer - young, Asian and from the world of media and entertainment".
He was listed at number 44 on the DS list of "50 Most Influential Gays", 2011:
Never heard of him? That’s because Lord Alli is doggedly working behind the scenes kind for us. The British multimillionaire and media entrepreneur is a Labour peer and one of very few openly gay Muslim politicians in the world. Much of Alli's work has been focused around gay rights, youth and education. He’s a patron of The Albert Kennedy Trust was a keynote speaker at the International Conference on LGBT Human Rights. “The last 13 years have been about extending and equalizing the rights of gay men and women and we’re completing a long journey,” he says. “The next decade will be defending.”
DS 50
