Meet Iranian immigrant, 24, who is set to take on Boris Johnson for Uxbridge seat Were he to succeed, it would be the first time that a sitting PM – assuming Mr Johnson wins the race – has lost their seat

One of Ali Milani’s earliest memories is of his mother being so short of cash that she had to choose between feeding the electricity or the gas meter in their council house.

He also recalls that he and his friends often had enough money only for their bus fare to school or for lunch – but not both.

Little more than a decade later, Mr Milani, who arrived in Britain from Iran at the age of five, is making an audacious attempt to oust Boris Johnson from Parliament.

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Were he to succeed, it would be the first time that a sitting prime minister – assuming Mr Johnson wins the race for Downing Street – has lost his or her Commons seat.

Striking contrast

The contrast between the 24-year-old Muslim and Mr Johnson – educated at Eton and Oxford – could not be more striking.

Mr Milani has some justification for claiming he can defeat Mr Johnson in Uxbridge and South Ruislip in the general election that could be only months away.

The former foreign secretary’s majority in the west London constituency more than halved at the last election, and demographic change means that Labour insists that the seat is now in its sights. Research by the centre-right think tank Onward has also concluded that Mr Johnson’s position could be vulnerable because of the large number of younger voters.

Mr Milani barely remembers his birthplace, but has vivid recollections of his early days in London. “I remember going to school not speaking English and it was really weird, feeling isolated and alone. I was terrified,” he told i.

‘I’m a neighbour, not a politician’

He developed a high profile in student politics but initially thought it was a joke when a friend suggested that he go for the Labour nomination. He won it overwhelmingly. “I didn’t stand to be the Muslim standing against Boris Johnson. I stood because I am the candidate living down the road. I know the lives of people here. I’m a neighbour, not a politician,” he said.

He argued that his tough childhood experiences – and reliance on local schools and hospitals – means he can relate to many of the constituents represented by Mr Johnson.

“Our whole community was living the same lives. We were all struggling for money,” he said. “Most of us were in council houses. We dealt with the issue of knife crime daily.

“We thought the world we lived in was the way everyone in the country lived. We didn’t realise there was a Boris Johnson life out there.”

Finding Momentum

Mr Milani became politically active in his teens when the coalition government scrapped the education maintenance allowance scheme in England and oversaw a trebling of student tuition fees.

“When I joined the Labour Party, never in my mind did I dream I would be a prospective parliamentary candidate, let alone against the sitting prime minister. This wasn’t even in the ludicrous version of the story in my head.”

Although he says he does not like political labels, he is seen as being on the left of the party and is benefiting from campaigning muscle of the pro-Corbyn group Momentum.

‘We will campaign hard’

He revealed that his mother, Amina, had mixed feelings over his battle with Mr Johnson.

“She has got this simultaneous thing of being super-proud and terrified of what’s going to happen to me because we get a lot of threats and hate mail.”

But he added: “We will beat him here because we will campaign hard.

“The caricature, the buffoon character that Boris has created, is not tenable long term. His presence locally has been completely missing. People can now see that we are but a platform on his way to No 10.”