Ayoub Khan

Ayoub Khan (born May 1973) is a Pakistan-born British independent politician and barrister who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Perry Barr since 2024. Khan has served as a councillor for Aston on Birmingham City Council since 2022, and formerly from 2003 to 2004 and 2005–2012, also formerly serving as a cabinet member on the council.

A member of the Liberal Democrats until his resignation prior to the 2024 general election, since September 2024 he has been active in the Independent Alliance parliamentary group, with whose members he registered Your Party UK Limited in 2025.

Born into a Mirpuri-speaking family as one of twelve children of steel worker Iqbal and Parveen, Ayoub Khan moved to England from Ratta, Azad Kashmir at six months old. He attended Prince Albert Primary School, Duddeston Manor Secondary School and Josiah Mason College. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Chemistry from the University of Birmingham and a Masters in Engineering (MEng) in Integrated Management Systems from the University of Birmingham. He worked as an IT consultant from 1999 to 2003. He studied Law at the University of Central England, completed his Bar Vocational Training Course at the BPP Law College London and qualified as a barrister in 2007 after being called to the bar in 2005. He is a member of Lincoln’s Inn.

Khan entered politics against the backdrop of the Iraq War. He was first elected as a Liberal Democrat councillor in the Aston ward in Birmingham Council in 2003. He lost the seat in 2004, but successfully challenged the result through an election petition at the High Court of Justice whose judge Richard Mawrey determined that the Labour Party candidates were involved in postal voter scandal. He went on and won the by-election in 2005. He represented the Aston ward again from 2005 to 2012. He served as the City Council's cabinet member for local services and community safety from 2007, becoming at the time its only non-white appointee.

In 2008, Khan alleged the use of underhanded tactics by Labour opponent Muhammad Afzal during the 2007 election. Khan subsequently won the 2008 election. In 2009, Afzal was cleared, and Khan was declared to have made unsubstantiated claims against Afzal by the election commissioner, Timothy Straker. The leader of Birmingham council's Labour group, Albert Bore, said that he should be barred from contesting the 2010 general election. Khan appealed the decision to the High Court of Justice, claiming that the judges findings were "perverse" and "unsubstantiated"; Khan was unsuccessful in his appeal. Khan said that the judgement was "beyond [his] belief" and that he would fight to clear his name. Afzal also reported Khan to the Bar Standards Board, who found Khan clear of wrongdoing. An internal Liberal Democrat investigation cleared Khan of any wrongdoing, and he was maintained as their prospective parliamentary candidate.

He contested the Birmingham Ladywood constituency at the 2010 general election, and came second to Labour's Shabana Mahmood.

Following the deaths of three young Muslim community patrollers during the 2011 riots in Birmingham, Khan praised the victims for "protecting the properties and sanctity of fellow community members be they black or white, Muslim or non-Muslim" and for fulfilling their "duties as proud British Muslims", and lauded the restraint of the Muslim youth in not seeking retribution.

Khan contested the West Midlands constituency at the 2014 European Parliament election, at which he was also not elected.