Naoroji was elected for the Liberal Party from Central Finsbury in London on July 1892. A Parsi, he refused to take the oath in the House on the Bible as he was not a Christian, but took the oath of office in the name of God on his small book of Avesta. He lost the next election in 1895.
The Fabian Society is considered close to Downing Street, and holds several conferences and meetings that are attended by senior leaders of the Labour Party.
Sunder Katwala, a journalist and general secretary of the society told the media: “Our national symbols should reflect the nation we are today. The design of notes is not set in stone. Just having a debate about whether there should be a new mix of Black and White faces on them would be a positive development.”
Having images of prominent Asian and Afro-Caribbean people who contributed to British society is one of the recommendations of the society to create a new definition of Britishness.
It is also said to be in favour of getting rid of Florence Nightingale, Edward Elgar, and Charles Darwin from notes, or even remove the Queen’s face altogether. In their place could come Victorian black MPs, social pioneers like nurse Mary Seacole, anti-slavery campaigners like William Wilberforce or poets like Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
The recommendations were backed by historian Linda Colley, who is an adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair. Writing in the society’s journal Fabian Review, she said: ”Why are the people on British bank notes always White? Why not have Olaudah Equiano, the great 18th century anti-slavery writer.