Who is Munira Mirza, ‘Johnson’s brain’, who left govt in protest?

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's head of policy Munira Mirza left her position on Thursday in protest over remarks made in parliament by the premier.

During angry exchanges in parliament on Monday, Johnson accused Labour Party leader Keir Starmer of failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile, one of Britain's most notorious sex offenders, during his time as Director of Public Prosecutions.

"I'm sorry to lose Munira," Johnson told 5 News. Asked about her statement his comments were inappropriate, Johnson said: "Well, I don't agree with that."

Who is Munira Mirza?

Munira Mirza, who was serving as Director of the Downing Street Policy Unit, is a Muslim woman from Oldham, daughter of two immigrants from Pakistan.

She had also worked for Johnson throughout his eight years as Mayor of London, according to her profile.

Mirza was born in 1978 in Oldham, the youngest of four children. Her father worked in a factory. She went to Breeze Hill comprehensive school, which was overwhelmingly Asian and has since been amalgamated with an overwhelmingly white school, and then to Oldham Sixth Form College, from which she was the only person in her year to go to Oxbridge.

She read English at Mansfield College, Oxford.

When asked in 2014 if her mother was proud of her achievements – her father was no longer alive – Mirza replied:

“I hope so! I’ve just had a son – about a year ago – and I realised the thing that makes your parents most proud is when you have children.

“But, yeah, she is proud of me. I’m very proud of her as well. She was a housewife, and she did some part-time Urdu teaching as well, but she does a lot of voluntary work, and she’s very active in the community.”

Johnson and Mirza do not always agree with each other, but they both like to astound the holders of received opinions, and especially the assumption that we must tiptoe round any question to do with Islam, for fear of causing offence.

So in August 2018, when Johnson wrote a controversial article about the burka and was widely condemned for having gone too far, Mirza took to the airwaves to defend him saying: “He [Johnson] knows far more about Islam and Islamic cultures than most of the politicians who are now lining up to attack him.”

For 14 years Mirza has been at Johnson's side. Through all the tribulations of his time as London mayor, Brexit campaigner, foreign secretary and prime minister, she has been a source of advice, willing and able to challenge her boss.

Mirza, sometimes known as "Boris's brain", is far from being a lifelong Conservative, having once been a communist activist, according to BBC.