Ridván reception in House of Commons

Lembit Opik MP brought his charming Cheeky Girl, Gaby, to our Ridván reception on the House of Commons terrace last night. Lembit may be a “character”, but he is also a key member (and Chair) of the All Party Parliamentary Friends of the Bahá’ís and our host for the evening. Actually, Lembit was the first MP to take an active role in forming the group and supporting our parliamentary work in defence of the Bahá’ís in Iran.

If Lembit were to lose his parliamentary seat of Montgomeryshire he could take up a new career as a stand-up comedian. He’s a funny guy and tells a good gag, as he did last night. But he’s also very serious about his relationship with the Bahá’ís and about defending the human rights of the Bahá’ís in Iran and he paid considerable compliments to the community in the UK and around the world.

He also read out messages of greeting for Ridván from the Prime Minister, from David Cameron MP (Leader of the Opposition) and from Nick Clegg MP, Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

We had a good turnout of MPs last night, but sadly not so many of our other friends as in previous years. A pity; they missed a good jazz combo - all Bahá’ís from the north of England - as well as stunningly good speeches about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (it’s the 60th anniversary of the UDHR and we were launching our year’s programme to mark the anniversary) from four young Bahá’ís (the youngest was a 14-year-old Iranian boy whose own family have suffered persecution in Iran), including two who had been educated at a Bahá’í school in Tanzania.

It was all great fun and I was able to have some excellent conversations, including an enjoyable discussion with Simon Hughes MP, who asked some very good questions about the Bahá’í community and Bahá’í elections.

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