Nusrat Ghani has been first many times. She was the first Muslim female minister to speak from the Commons dispatch box, the first Muslim woman elected as a Tory MP in 2015, the first woman to represent the Conservative stronghold of Wealden, East Sussex and has said she was the first woman in her family to attend university.
Born in Kashmir to Pakistani parents, Ghani, 49, grew up in Birmingham before studying at Birmingham City University and Leeds. She worked in an investment bank, charities and the BBC World Service before an unsuccessful attempt at election in 2010 for the seat of Birmingham Ladywood.
