Waheed Alli, Baron Alli

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Waheed Alli, Baron Alli (born November 16, 1964) is a Muslim businessman and politician in the United Kingdom. He was educated at the London School of Economics. He achieved prominence in the television industry, as a co-founder (along with his long-term partner Charlie Parsons and Bob Geldof) of Planet 24 - a successful TV production company that produced popular programmes including The Word, the Big Breakfast and Survivor. Carlton Television bought Planet 24 in March, 1999, (though Baron Alli and Charlie Parsons retained the rights to the lucrative Survivor format). Waheed Alli remained as director before stepping down a year later. [1]

Baron Alli is also part owner of Shine Limited, a media production company he co-founded in March, 2001 with Elisabeth Murdoch, daughter of media-magnate Rupert Murdoch.

Waheed Alli was made a life peer as Baron Alli, of Norbury in the London Borough of Croydon in 1998 at the age of 34 becoming the youngest and the first openly gay peer in Parliament, and a man that Prime Minister Tony Blair believed could help him reach out to a younger generation. [2]. Baron Alli sits on the Labour benches in the House of Lords. Baron Alli advocated lowering the age of consent for homosexuals from 18 to 16. It was during a heated exchange in the House of Lords with conservative opponents, led by Baroness Young, that he informed his fellow peers that he was gay. Baron Alli also spearheaded the campaign to repeal Section 28. [3]