How would Sir Keir Starmer have reacted in opposition, had a Conservative government appointed as its anti-graft minister someone whose ties to a corrupt and brutal overseas regime were subject to intense scrutiny? Presumably, with righteous indignation.
Why, then, did the Prime Minister appear to be so unperturbed by the allegations swirling around his City and anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq, and her familial and financial links to the overthrown Bangladeshi government formerly led by her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, prior to her decision to resign as a minister late on Tuesday?
Hasina ruled the south-Asian nation with an iron first for two decades before fleeing to India in August of last year in the wake of mass protests that led to her regime’s collapse. She stands accused by critics and rights groups of overseeing a litany of crimes against humanity – including enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings – as well as rampant corruption in the poor, Muslim-majority nation of 170 million.
Thousands of miles away, in Westminster, the toxicity of Hasina’s deposed government has now accounted for Siddiq too, with scrutiny of her alleged involvement with her aunt’s administration prompting her decision to abandon front-bench duties.
The Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate’s resignation came after she referred herself last week to Sir Laurie Magnus, the Government’s adviser on ministerial standards, over allegations surrounding her links to a number of London properties reportedly tied to Hasina’s Awami League party. Reports have suggested a figure associated with the party gifted Siddiq a flat in central London, and that her current address, a £2.1 million family home in East Finchley, is owned by a member of its UK wing.
Sir Laurie, for his part, concluded that he did not believe Siddiq had breached the Ministerial Code, but added she should “consider her ongoing responsibilities” in light of the controversy.
The referral came as Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) investigates Siddiq, Hasina and other members of their family for alleged embezzlement of billions of pounds connected to a Russian-funded nuclear power plant. The probe is based on a series of allegations made by a senior political opponent of Hasina’s.
It was revealed last week that Bangladeshi banks had been ordered by local authorities to provide transaction records for Siddiq, her mother, Sheikh Rehana, two siblings and Hasina, among others, amid concerns over their financial dealings.
Sadiq with her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, the ousted former prime minster of Bangladesh
The Labour MP has denied any wrongdoing, having always insisted she had little to do with political events in Dhaka. In her resignation letter, Siddiq said her family connections “are a matter of public record”, adding: “When I became a minister I provided the full details of my relationships and private interests to the Government.”
She insisted she had acted with “full transparency” and recused herself from matters relating to Bangladesh during her time in Government. But a deeper look at the case poses many questions that have yet to be answered about her links to Bangladesh.
Hasina, whose removal as prime minister ended one of South Asia’s foremost political dynasties, first came to power in 1996 as the head of the Awami League, the political party founded by her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Her first stint in office saw Hasina broker a peace deal with insurgents in south-eastern Bangladesh and a historic water-sharing deal with neighbouring India.
But she was cast aside by voters five years later – amid allegations of corrupt business deals and of being overly subservient to New Delhi – when her former political ally and the head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Begum Khaleda Zia, won the premiership in a 2001 election.
After an eight-year stint in opposition, during which Hasina endured several assassination attempts and was arrested numerous times, she returned as prime minister in 2009.
The same year, her niece, Siddiq, was busy building her own political career and seeking election as a Labour councillor in London. According to a now-deleted section of the Labour MP’s website, she also worked “for the Awami League, as part of its UK and EU lobbying unit and election strategy team”. In February 2009, Siddiq appeared on the BBC World news channel as a spokesperson for her aunt’s party.
Her entrenched family ties to the Awami League hierarchy are obvious. In addition to the connection that runs through Hasina, Siddiq’s uncle, Tarique Ahmed Siddique, and her cousin, Sajeeb Wazed, were senior advisers to the former Bangladeshi regime. Her brother, Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby, was also a key propagandist for Hasina’s government, and a businessman in Dhaka.
Siddiq might be forgiven for associating closely with an administration that had, at its outset, promised a fresh start for Bangladesh after decades of financial malaise and violence. Certainly, Hasina’s supporters credited her with boosting Bangladesh’s economy, and initiating a series of key infrastructure projects.
But the government’s authoritarian nature was soon apparent, and critics say Hasina’s rule was underlined by a ruthless determination to cling on to power which led to repression of political opponents and the media.
By 2013, Human Rights Watch was warning that Hasina’s administration was already “engaged in a harsh crackdown on members of civil society and the media”. A year later, opposition parties boycotted an election against a backdrop of worsening political violence. Hasina’s government had rejected calls to give way to an impartial, caretaker administration ahead of the vote, as had been customary in the country for almost two decades, as part of efforts to guard against manipulation. By December 2015, the then-Bangladeshi leader was described in a House of Commons report as “playing fast and loose with democracy”.
Against this backdrop, Siddiq’s association with her aunt and the political party she led continued. In 2013, the pair posed for a photograph alongside Russian president Vladimir Putin at a meeting in Moscow. The meeting saw Putin agree to bankroll the £10 billion Rooppur nuclear plant on the bank of the river Padma, about 100 miles northwest of Dhaka. The Anti-Corruption Commission alleges Siddiq brokered the deal and helped her family embezzle some £3.9 billion pounds from the project – claims the Labour MP denies.
Tulip Siddiq, left, with her aunt Sheikh Hasina, third left, and Vladimir Putin in Moscow in 2013 – AP Pool
Two years later, in 2015, Siddiq appeared at an Awami League rally in the UK soon after entering Parliament as the Labour Party MP for Hampstead and Kilburn. Hasina also attended the rally, giving her niece a congratulatory kiss on the forehead. “Had it not been for your help, I would never have been able to stand here as a British MP,” Siddiq said in front of a cheering crowd.
In 2017, Siddiq’s connections with her aunt were again under intense scrutiny after she was involved in a controversial exchange with a Channel 4 News reporter over the fate of Mir Ahmad bin Quasem, a British-trained lawyer being detained in Dhaka.
The son of an Islamist party leader in Bangladesh, Quasem had been held in solitary detention since 2016 and went on to suffer eight years of confinement and torture in Dhaka’s notorious “House of Mirrors” prison, so-called because inmates were never supposed to see any other person besides themselves.
Siddiq had been a prominent campaigner for the release of the British-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from prison in Iran and it was mooted in 2017 by journalist Alex Thomson that “with one phone call” to her aunt she “could make a huge difference” to Quasem.
But the Labour MP immediately dismissed the suggestion that she might intervene to help him. “Are you aware that I am a British MP and that I’m born in London?” she replied. Siddiq also told Thomson to “be very careful”, adding: “I’m not Bangladeshi and the person you are talking about, I have no idea about their case. That is the end of my statement.”
Soon after Channel 4’s questioning – and hours before the encounter was eventually broadcast on December 13 of that year – Dhaka police raided Quasem’s family home, telling his wife to “remain low” and end media coverage of his case.
Siddiq, for her part, complained to the police following her exchange with Thomson, alleging she had been the victim of a racially aggravated assault. She was later forced to issue an apology to Daisy Ayliffe, a producer who was working alongside Thomson for Channel 4 News and who was pregnant at the time of the exchange, for making “threatening” comments relating to childbirth at the end of the interview.
Channel 4 News
Quasem, who is currently having long-term medical treatment outside of Bangladesh, dismisses Siddiq’s assertions that her links to Hasina’s government are insignificant. He also accuses her of having repeatedly failed to speak out against the alleged human rights abuses committed by her aunt’s regime.
“[Siddiq] is actively involved with Bangladesh society,” he says. “She made numerous trips to Bangladesh, after she became an MP. She made media appearances, for instance, gave television and newspaper interviews about her experience after coming to Bangladesh, and she made clear that she derived her motivation from her aunt.
“If she says she’s unaware of all the terrible things that were happening, that’s absolutely not credible in any way.
“She had a duty to Bangladeshi society that she failed to discharge. And if Britain continues to have her as a minister, it will be greatly detrimental to the image of its government and society [abroad].”
And what of the more recent suggestions of controversy dogging Siddiq? In particular, in relation to financial dealings involving properties connected to the Labour MP. Earlier this month, it emerged that she had been given a two-bedroom flat near King’s Cross in 2004, according to previously unreported Land Registry filings. The filings indicate the apartment had been donated to Siddiq by Abdul Motalif, a developer with links to the Awami League.
The Mail on Sunday reported that Siddiq had previously told its reporters, in 2022, that the property had been bought by her parents and given to her as a gift, prompting accusations she had misled journalists.
Another property, in Hampstead, was reportedly lived in by Siddiq after it had been purchased by Moin Ghani, a lawyer who represented Hasina’s government, and transferred to Siddiq’s sister.
And Siddiq is also reported to be currently renting a £2.1m home in East Finchley owned by Abdul Karim, an executive member of the UK branch of the Awami League.
The Labour MP had repeatedly rejected any suggestion of wrongdoing as speculation over her conduct built of late. “In recent weeks I have been the subject of media reporting, much of it inaccurate, about my financial affairs and my family’s links to the former government of Bangladesh,” she wrote in her letter this week to Sir Laurie.
“I am clear that I have done nothing wrong. However, for the avoidance of doubt, I would like you to independently establish the facts about these matters.”
Her resignation would appear to settle the issue of her immediate political future. But serious questions remain over Siddiq’s links to the former Bangladesh regime and her apparent unwillingness to criticise its appalling crimes, and of Sir Keir’s decision to stick by his minister prior to her decision to quit.
Siddiq is reportedly “good friends” with the Labour leader, and their families have reportedly holidayed together. Above, with Sir Keir and his wife, Victoria
A spokesman for the Prime Minister told reporters last week that he had “full confidence” in Siddiq, adding she had “acted entirely properly” by referring herself for investigation. On Tuesday, Sir Keir said he accepted her resignation “with sadness”.
“I wish to be clear that Sir Laurie Magnus as independent advisor has assured me he found no breach of the Ministerial Code and no evidence of financial improprieties on your part,” he added in a letter sent to his former minister. “I appreciate that to end ongoing distraction from delivering our agenda to change Britain, you have made a difficult decision and want to be clear that the door remains open for you going forward.”
Siddiq, whose constituency borders that of the Labour leader’s, is said to be one of just a handful of MPs whom the Prime Minister counts as a personal friend. Speaking alongside Siddiq while on the campaign trail for local elections in 2018, Sir Keir described her as “my good friend and colleague”. Two years later, when he was elected as leader of the Labour Party, Siddiq revelled in his victory, telling reporters he had been a “good friend through thick and thin”. The pair’s families are said to have spent time in each other’s company, and it has been reported that they have been on holiday together.
The Prime Minister wanted his government to “clean up politics”. But Siddiq’s torturous departure after days of mounting questions may mean a degree of reputational damage for the Labour Government from which it could prove hard to recover.
The Telegraph contacted the Labour Party and Tulip Siddiq’s office for comment.
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