Al-Ahram Weekly Issue 244 26 Oct. - 1 Nov. 1995
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

Continuing a series on the political parties contesting the November general elections, Amira Howeidy traces the roots of the Labour Party, chronicles its switch to an Islamist ideology, interviews its leader, Ibrahim Shukri, and sounds out political experts on the party's performance

The minister who said no

Hilmi Murad, 76, Labour's deputy chairman, began a legal career as an assistant district prosecutor after obtaining a law degree in 1939. Ten years later, he became a lecturer at Alexandria University's law school, teaching labour law, and then moved to Ain Shams University, where he taught political science. In 1963, he founded the Workers University and became its president, later moving to Beirut where he headed the United Nations financial and administrative centre.

Murad came into the public eye when he was dismissed from the cabinet by the late President Gamal Abdel-Nasser for opposing his policies, only a year after he had made him education minister in 1969. Nasser did not stop at that, but issued a decree banning former cabinet ministers from working abroad for a period of five years following their exit from the cabinet. The decree was meant to prevent Murad from accepting a job offer from Kuwait University.

With the revival of the Wafd Party in 1978, Murad assisted in the preparation of the party's platform and became its spokesman in the People's Assembly. But the Wafd froze its activities shortly afterwards and Murad moved to the Socialist Labour Party, which was established a few months later. Murad, who is Ahmed Hussein's brother-in-law, the founder of the pre-1952 Young Egypt Party, also helped in preparing Labour's platform and was later made its secretary-general.

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