Ayoub Khan

Ayoub Khan (born May 1973 ) is a British independent politician and barrister who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Perry Barr since 2024. Khan served as a councillor for Aston on Birmingham City Council from 2003 to 2004, 2005 to 2012, and from 2022 to 2026, and has served as a cabinet member on the council.

A member of the Liberal Democrats until his resignation prior to the 2024 general election, since September 2024 he has been active in the Independent Alliance parliamentary group, with whose members he registered Your Party UK Limited in 2025.

Early life and education Born into a Mirpuri-speaking family as one of twelve children of steel worker Iqbal and Parveen, Ayoub Khan moved to England from Ratta, Azad Kashmir at six months old. He attended Prince Albert Primary School, Duddeston Manor Secondary School and Josiah Mason College. He graduated with a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Birmingham and a MEng in Integrated Management Systems from the University of Birmingham.

He worked as an IT consultant from 1999 to 2003. He studied Law at the University of Central England, completed his Bar Vocational Training Course at the BPP Law College London and qualified as a barrister in 2007 after being called to the bar in 2005. He is a member of Lincoln’s Inn. He lost the seat in 2004 but successfully challenged the result through an election petition at the High Court of Justice whose judge Richard Mawrey determined that the Labour Party candidates were involved in postal voter scandal. He won the subsequent by-election in 2005. Khan appealed the decision to the High Court of Justice, asserting that the judge's findings were "perverse" and "unsubstantiated"; Khan was unsuccessful in his appeal.

Following the deaths of three young Muslim community patrollers during the 2011 riots in Birmingham, Khan praised the victims for "protecting the properties and sanctity of fellow community members be they black or white, Muslim or non-Muslim" and for fulfilling their "duties as proud British Muslims", and lauded the restraint of the Muslim youth in not seeking retribution.

Khan contested the West Midlands constituency at the 2014 European Parliament election, at which he was also not elected.

During the 2018 Birmingham Council election, Khan contested the election in his old ward of Aston, but was unsuccessful. In the 2022 Birmingham Council election Khan again stood in Aston, and was successful in being re-elected to the City Council.

Following the outbreak of the Gaza war, Ayoub Khan and fellow Liberal Democrat councillor Izzy Knowles proposed a motion within the Birmingham City Council calling on the council to recognise the negative effects of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; the increase in anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hate; and to note the council's duty of care to the people of Birmingham, and to promote peace, tolerance and respect." The motion notably called for the council to support a Homes for Palestine Refugees programme inspired by the Homes for Ukraine programme. and saying that Suella Braverman was misguided over her claims that the "from the river to the sea Palestine will be free" slogan is anti-Semitic. Khan stated "at no stage have I considered my material on TikTok offensive. It illustrates, doesn’t it, how the media can get it wrong".

Khan presented a motion to Birmingham City Council proposing that private hire drivers be allowed to use bus lanes while on duty. He argued that private hire drivers provide essential services, such as transporting elderly and vulnerable passengers to shopping centres or hospital appointments, and young children with special needs to school, often during peak travel times when congestion is at its highest. He suggested that allowing these drivers to use bus lanes would reduce congestion and emissions in the city and lead to faster journey times for passengers. However, this motion was opposed by all the Labour Councillors and as a result failed.

Member of Parliament In May 2024, a general election was called. A precondition of standing as a Liberal Democrat was that Khan would have been limited by the party when talking about the Gaza war. Instead, he resigned from the Liberal Democrats and stood as an independent candidate for the Birmingham Perry Barr constituency. In an interview preceding the election, he stated his belief that independent candidates across the country responded to a broad public desire for "a new form of politics", free from "the influence of big companies". During the election campaign, his wife suffered a brain injury in a fall, which resulted in Khan reducing his campaigning efforts to be with his wife. Khan said that it was eye-opening and provoked him to "double down efforts" with reducing NHS wait times. Following his victory, he appointed George Galloway's campaign manager James Giles as his chief of staff.

Khan sponsored the independent–Green "Amendment B" to abolish the two-child benefit cap, and voted in support of the Scottish National Party's "Amendment D" to abolish the cap. Both amendments were voted down by the Labour Party. Adam and Corbyn had been in discussions with Khan, Hussain, and Mohamed regarding how to impact policy, with Adam stating that the five were "looking at options that would give us more access to the levers of power".

On 2 September 2024, Khan became a founding member of the Independent Alliance parliamentary group.

On 11 September 2024, as an MP, Khan tabled an early day motion in the parliament which expressed solidarity with drivers for Uber and other private hire services across the UK, highlighting the challenges they face, including precarious working conditions and lack of employment rights. It called on the government to implement measures to protect these workers from exploitation and ensure they receive fair pay and employment protections.

In February 2025, Khan tabled a motion to make a visa scheme for Palestinians with family ties in the United Kingdom. In April 2025, he was joined by Liberal Democrat councillors in calling for the armed forces to help remove uncollected rubbish from Birmingham streets at an early stage of the 2025 Birmingham bin strike, and charged that a decade of "financial mismanagement of Labour-run Birmingham city council" had provided "a damning indictment of Labour's inability to govern".

In July 2025, Khan voted against a motion that would decriminalise abortions that occur after 24 weeks of pregnancy.

On 31 July 2025, he took up the position of a director in the newly incorporated Your Party UK Limited alongside other members of the Independent Alliance.

Positions

LGBT rights In the past, when asked if he supported LGBT rights including marriage equality, Khan has stated that "My personal opinion as a Muslim is well known. You only have to look at what other Muslims believe, what's taught".

Aston Villa – Maccabi Tel Aviv football match In October 2025, Khan supported the decision by West Midlands Police to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending a forthcoming UEFA Europa League match against Aston Villa at Villa Park.

Khan said the decision to ban fans was a "moral question", not merely a matter of public safety.

Waada event in Birmingham In June 2025, Khan was guest of honour at an event promoting Waada, a luxury housing project in Dubai. The two men behind Waada project are Malik Riaz and Ali Riaz Malik, a father-son duo who are wanted in Pakistan and banned from Britain owing to their involvement in Al-Qadir Trust case corruption and financial crime via their property company, Bahria Town.