MUNIRA Mirza, who has resigned from her position as director of the Number 10 Policy Unit, has had a long professional relationship with the Prime Minister.

She was an adviser to Boris Johnson from 2008 to 2016 while he was Mayor of London, becoming one of six Deputy Mayors, with her responsible for education and culture.

Mirza, 43, was born to working-class parents who had immigrated from Pakistan to Oldham, Greater Manchester. Her dad worked in a factory and her mum taught Urdu part-time.

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She attended Oxford University – the only one in her sixth form to do so – and studied English Literature.

Mirza was a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party, which disbanded in 1997 after it was successfully sued for libel by ITN over its accusations the network had faked images of Serb war crimes during the Bosnian genocide.

The National: Munira Mirza has resigned from Downing Street Munira Mirza has resigned from Downing Street

She worked in museums and galleries including the Tate Gallery in London, moving into policy when she moved to the conservative think tank Policy Exchange.

Despite her long association with the Prime Minister, Mirza denies being a Tory and in previous interviews, has rejected political labels.

She told totalpolitics.com in 2014 she was “not of a party” despite being described as a member of the “looney left” by former Labour grandee Ken Livingston in her younger years.

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A staunch Brexiteer, she was picked for Johnson’s top team in 2019 after he became Prime Minister, leaving her role as executive director of culture at King’s College London.

She resigned from the position at No 10 over Johnson’s “inappropriate and partisan” reference to the Crown Prosecution Service deciding not to charge Jimmy Savile.

The Prime Minister has backtracked on the comments after ferocious backlash and claims he was “parroting” extreme right-wing trolls.

She wrote in her resignation letter: “I believe it was wrong for you to imply this week that Keir Starmer was personally responsible for allowing Jimmy Savile to escape justice.

“There was no fair or reasonable basis for that assertion. This was not the usual cut and thrust of politics; it was an inappropriate and partisan reference to a horrendous case of child sex abuse.

“You tried to clarify your position today but, despite my urging, you did not apologise for the misleading impression you gave.”

She has stoked controversy in the past for comments she has made about race and multiculturalism, including defending a notorious Telegraph column by Johnson in which he likened burqa-wearers to “bank robbers” and “letterboxes”.

In light of Theresa May’s 2017 audit into racial disparities in public services, Mirza wrote in the Spectator: “It makes no sense to blame racism or the failings of professionals in the criminal justice system.

"Differences in racial outcomes are not the same thing as institutional racism any more than the fact that far more men than women are incarcerated is evidence of institutional sexism.

“The most anyone could reasonably say about institutional racism is that the evidence is far from conclusive.”

She is married to Dougie Smith, the co-founder of Fever Parties, a firm that organises sex parties. Its website promises "friendly and seductive" orgies including "daring young couples and vivacious single girls". He was hired to Number 10 in 2020 and previously worked under David Cameron as a strategist.