I live, work and studied in Oxford. Therefore, I am delighted to be your local candidate for Oxford West & Abingdon at the General Election.
My upbringing shaped the values I hold dear. My father is an electronics inspector on a factory floor and my mother was a part-time dinner lady at a local primary school, in between her full-time role of raising myself and my two siblings. They immigrated from East Africa in the 1970s, fearing the uprising of Idi Amin in the region. We were working class, but our parents never made us feel lesser than the other children. With love, they emphasised the values of aspiration through education, making a positive difference, having integrity, being humble, working hard and serving your country with pride. These are the values I will take forward as your Member of Parliament in Oxford West and Abingdon.
Education was especially important in our family. I vividly remember my father being elated when I was accepted into Queen Elizabeth's Boys School, Barnet. However, the only way to get there was a school bus, which we could hardly afford. But my father never complained. His sacrifice of working overtime meant I could have a world-class education. For context, my father paid £3,000 out of his £25,000 salary for this bus. My parent's sacrifice demonstrates the power of prioritising education to drive social mobility. I want every child to have this same access to an excellent education regardless of where they start in life.
I graduated as a dental surgeon in 2018 from Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. After a year of training, I applied to work as a Junior Doctor in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Northwick Park Hospital. In March 2020, I voluntarily redeployed from my department to the ICU frontline to save lives. I remember one interaction from that time vividly.
"Why are you still here? Is it not dangerous for you and your baby?" I told Mary, the nurse helping me scrub up for my shift in the ICU. I was honoured to work with her, as although heavily pregnant, she was still enthusiastically working in the NHS. Mary came back with my respirator in her hand and an answer to my initial question: "If I don't serve my people, who will?". These simple eight words still inspire me in public service today. In the context of life and death, they are a testament to what it means to put your community before yourself, do your duty wholeheartedly, and be resilient in unprecedented situations. I have worked in the NHS in its most tested time in history. I am committed to protecting it and improving it.
I live in Oxford, off the Abingdon Road, with my wife Jasmine. She grew up in Wheatley and works as a local Optometrist. We moved into central Oxford after we got married, as during the pandemic, I was accepted to read the Master of Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government – the large, glass building on Walton Street - as a Political Leadership Scholar. I received the news whilst I was isolating with COVID myself - a party for one! I deferred my entry to stay on the frontline. The scholarship meant the University covered my tuition and living expenses so that I could fully immerse myself in studying the policy areas that interested me. This included learning about Economic Development for Sir Paul Collier, Public Corruption from Chris Stone and AI from James Manyika, amongst many others. It culminated in me working with a charity in the slums of Nairobi for three months on pharmaceutical policy to help prevent HIV in young girls. I graduated with distinction.
I work in Summertown as an NHS dental surgeon serving the local community. Being a dentist allows me to be a trusted member of the local community and interact with hundreds of constituents a week. While getting them out of pain, I hear about what motivates them, what challenges they face and what they need from their government. Beyond the duty of care to my patients, I run a small education business called Dentify, which has trained over 5000 dentists in clinical governance and leadership. I am also a policy fellow at Onward, a centre-right think tank dedicated to developing bold and practical ideas to boost economic opportunity, build national resilience, and strengthen communities across all parts of the UK.
You don't have to be my patient - or a Conservative - to tell me about your local area in our constituency. I am here to help everyone, so please don't hesitate to get in touch.