Waseem Zaffar is the Labour councillor for Lozells & East Handsworth in Birmingham and is an engaging figure; confident , grounded & rooted in Birmingham politics. Proud to be a Brummie born and bred. Born in his own Ward, educated in his own Ward and a graduate of Aston University . And immensely gratified to be of Kashmiri Pakistani heritage. He was also appointed one of the youngest Magistrates in the City and has already received an MBE for charitable and community work. All of this well before before his 35th birthday. At that age Sir Albert Bore was just on the foothills of his great political journey.
Many years ago Zaffar picked the perennial Leadership candidate for Leader of Birmingham City Council John Clancy as a winner and has certainly nailed his colours to the rhetoric of Clancy's message for change. Zaffar and Clancy very much sing from the same hymn sheet.
Labour Lives met him after a busy day & just before a holiday with his newly married wife. The internet is full of conspiracy theories about him. But in person he is a charmer and well able to articulate his view of where Labour should be going. He knows how to present that story and how to navigate the piranha - infested waters of Labour politics. A man in a hurry. He loves cricket and is an Aston Villa fan.....not so great a place to be today. But he is a coming-man in all senses of the word. When the game of musical chairs that is carried out post the May elections in the Labour group is over, it will surely secure him a Cabinet post.
A Labour Lives prediction: this councillor is going places. Watch this space. He is ambitious and clever and a man who crosses many political and social divides. We would place a bet on Zaffar being the first Muslim Leader of Birmingham City Council as this is surely not outside his scope. Frankly Labour Lives thinks he is man who will go as far as he wants and if Westminster is not his aim then Birmingham could do very much worse. So keep an eye on Waseem Zaffar MBE and see how the jockeying develops! Perhaps all he needs to do is back a better football team.