Ashok Kumar (UK politician)

Dr Ashok Kumar (born 28 May 1956, Uttar Pradesh, India) is a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He is Member of Parliament (MP) for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland and a Chartered Engineer.

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Education and Early Career

He attended Rykneld School for Boys, Derby, UK, then studied Chemical Engineering at Aston University, Birmingham UK, obtaining a BSc in 1978. He stayed on to obtain an MSc in Process Analysis and Control Theory in 1979, and a PhD in Fluid Mechanics in 1982. The thesis title was "Velocity distributions in a plate heat exchanger". He is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the Energy Institute.

He began his career as a Research Fellow at Imperial College London (1982-1985) then worked as a Research Scientist at British Steel, Middlesbrough.

Political Career

He began his political career as a Local Councillor for Middlesbrough Borough Council (1987 - 1997). He first became an MP in a 1991 by-election, winning the Langbaurgh constituency but lost his seat to the Conservative party shortly after at the 1992 election. He won his present constituency at the 1997 election.

He is a Member of Parliamentary Scientific Committee; Vice-Chair of Parliamentary Group for Energy Studies; and Chair of Northern Group of Labour MPs.

Other Interests

Ashok Kumar is a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association. He lists his recreations as "Cricket, badminton, reading history and philosophy, listening to jazz"personal website.