Five Labour Councillors have defected to the Conservatives to back Tony Lit's campaign

Southhall, UK, July 10, 2007
Devinder Kaur Gill

NRI Piara Khabra, Member of Parliament for Ealing Southhall, Party Labour, died on June 19, 2007 and the Conservatives of UK party have announced the selection of local businessman Tony Lit, 34 as the Party's candidate to fight the forthcoming Ealing Southall by-election held on July 19, 2007

The constituency Ealing or Southall, has the second largest Asian community (97% non-whitein) in the country

Five Labour councillors - Gurcharan Singh, Manjit Singh, Maninder Kaur Keith, Jarnail Singh Jandu and Jagdish Gupta; Dr Gulbash Singh-an independent candidate in the by-election,, has also now joined Tony Lit's campaign and pledged his support to the Conservatives. Baldev and Surinder Arora who have been Labour Party members for forty years signed their party membership forms and backed Tony Lit to be the next MP.

Tony Lit said: "I'm delighted to be the Conservative Party candidate for Ealing Southall. Under David Cameron's leadership this is a party that recognises people from all backgrounds. I look forward to working hard for the people of Ealing and Southall, a community I have served for 10 years as a local business leader and volunteer on Southall regeneration projects."

Jason Stacey, Leader of Ealing Borough Council, said: "Tony is a great local candidate, known in both Ealing and Southall. He will be a real asset as an MP, standing up for the local community."

One media paper said, "Lit's wealthy and influential father stood in 2001 as a "Sunrise" candidate and managed to beat the LibDems into fourth, so hopefully his son will bring a similar following with him"

Who is Tony Lit?

In his business directorships, he is sometimes Tony Surinderpal Lit, usually Surinderpal Singh Lit, and only occasionally (when working with Himalaya Shows, Events and Exhibitions Ltd) is he Tony Lit.

• He has worked in the community for 10 years, running a radio station and one of the UK’s youngest Managing Directors of a commercial Sunrise Radio station.
  • Sunrise Radio launched in 1989 and became the highest rated Asian radio station in the UK and the highest listening station (14.4 hours per week) in London. He has increased turnover for the station from £2.8 million to £4.8 million.
  • He had abided by the Sunrise Radio values - never shortchange the public. He delivered a show that is excellent value for money and if visitors are spending a pound, they should be receiving at least two pounds worth of product and service if not more.
• He is a media magnate, entrepreneur and show director, has numerous outstanding achievements and board member of many leading organisations
• He is ambassador for the Olympics 2012 bid and an oracle in the Asian media industry.
• Tony picked up the highly sought-after award for Marketing Excellence at the NTL Commercial Radio Awards 2004
• In July 2004, he launched the show that received huge acclaim and became the biggest show, in terms of revenue and attendance figures, to be staged at the Olympia since the days of the Clothes Show. The show has also been nominated for ‘Best Launch Show’ at this year’s AEO (Association of Exhibition Organizers) Excellence Awards, which took place on 1st July 2005 and over 40,000 people attended
• He became the youngest General Manager of Moss Bros men’s wear at the flagship Regent St store in London at the age of 23
• Tony joined Sunrise Radio in the autumn of 1998 as Commercial Director and was appointed Managing Director in January 2003.

He is married with three children, one year old twins Cameron and Selina, and three-year old Sofia. He is a keen player and supporter of football, and a member of West Ham United. In addition, Tony is director of the popular Asian Lifestyle Show - a massive annual exhibition of Asian culture and entertainment.

Tony’s inspiration has been his father, Avtar Lit, the founder of Sunrise Radio. Despite achievements through his own tenacity, Tony feels he still has a long way to go before he can emulate his father’s success.

Tony Lit (Surinderpal Singh Lit), 34, Managing Director of Sunrise Radio

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• Lit has been named candidates to stand for the Conservatives in the by-election, held on July 19, 2007.