Vijay Singh Riyait

Vijay Singh Riyait BEng(Hons), MEng, CEng, MIET, MCP MCTS

"I am a member of the Labour Party in the Leicester West Constituency. I was formerly in the Young Fabians and ran for the National Executive but just missed out on the main roles. I was Chair of the North East Coalition for Asylum Rights which I helped to set up and build a broad range of coalition partners. ... I was also formerly Governor of Wyggeston & Queen Elizabeth I College in Leicester which I attended as a student."

In 2012 he notes that he "put myself forward to the newly forming strategy board of the unashamedly New Labour Pressure Group, Progress". He also adds that Liz Kendall "is a good friend". According to a post from September 2012, he is a former secretary of the Federation of Small Businesses in Leicester, works with a project called ProHelp run by Leicestershire Cares, and is working with Movement for Change "to set up a Leicester Business Forum where the local Labour party can engage with business owners, listen to them and act on their concerns."

His blog notes: "Yes, I am a Sikh and a Geek! I know many might not regard me as a true Sikh because I don’t adhere to all the symbols of the faith (the uncut hair and Turban, etc) but that is who I am with all the imperfections and contradictions that go along with being me. My life is based around the Sikh Community in Leicester and in particular the Ramgharia Gurudwara which my father helped to set up when they came to Leicester from Tanzania in the 1960s and where my mother is a sewadar in the Communal Kitchen.

"I’m a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET), which is the largest professional Engineering institution in the UK. I am the Technical Director of Ardent iSys, which is a Microsoft Certified Partner and a Microsoft Small Business Specialist. I’ve got over 15 years experience as a software engineer. I graduated from the University of Wales, Bangor where I studied Electronic Engineering, having won a sponsorship from Marconi Radar Systems Ltd, Chelmsford..."

Related Sourcewatch

 * Marconi Electronic Systems