Tasmina Ahmed-SheikhOBEWSNP (born 5 October 1970) is a Scottish politician,serving as chair of the Alba Party since 2021. She was also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ochil and South Perthshire from 2015 to 2017. A former member of the Scottish Conservatives,Labour,and the Scottish National Party (SNP),Ahmed-Sheikh served as the SNP's Trade and Investment spokesperson,Deputy Shadow Leader of the House in the House of Commons,and the SNP's National Women's and Equalities Convener. A solicitor and businessperson,and a former actress,Ahmed-Sheikh founded and formerly chaired the Scottish Asian Women's Association.
Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh was born in Chelsea,London,in 1970,and was raised in Edinburgh. Her mother is a half-Welsh,half-Czech actress who performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)[1][2] and completed a law degree in her retirement.[3] Her father,Mohammad bin Ashiq Rizvi,MA,LL.B,JP,was born in British India and brought up in Pakistan after Partition. He moved to Britain in 1951,working first as a lecturer in English at the University of London and then as an insurance broker.[citation needed] He was a Conservative politician,serving as councillor on the New Town/Stockbridge division on Lothian Regional Council from 1986 to 1994[4] and standing for Edinburgh Leith in 1992. He was the first Asian Conservative councillor in Scotland.[5]
After graduating in law,Ahmed-Sheikh made acting her first career. She starred in the Pakistani drama seriesDes Pardes. These led to a series of local modelling shoots. She starred in the 2000 drama Aansoo,playing Imaan,the daughter of a mixed-race Scottish-Pakistani couple;the drama was filmed in both countries and was produced by her husband Zulfikar Sheikh. She produced and appeared in The Castle:Aik Umeed (2001).[7]
Legal career
Ahmed-Sheikh became a partner at the Glasgow law firm Hamilton Burns,specialising in commercial conveyancing and private client work,often with a family law or immigration element.[8]
On 15 January 2019,she was found guilty of professional misconduct by the Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal (SSDT) and fined £3,000.[9] The Tribunal found that Ahmed-Sheikh and fellow solicitor Alan Mickel had shown "disregard for the rules" in running a trust and had a conflict of interest when they borrowed money from it to help their ailing firm.[10] In addition to their fines,the pair also had to pay the expenses of the Law Society of Scotland,which had brought the case forward.[11]
In September 2021,the SSDT found her guilty for a second time when she was ruled to have committed "recklessness by omission" during her tenure as the designated cashroom partner at Hamilton Burns,which went into administration in 2017. Ahmed-Sheikh admitted six other breaches of financial rules too but was cleared of any suggestion of dishonesty or a lack of integrity.[12]
Political career
Ahmed-Sheikh was active in the Scottish Conservatives from the age of 10 and a member from 16.[13] She was chairperson of Edinburgh Central Young Conservatives and deputy spokeswoman for the party on women and family issues and equal opportunities.[14] She stood as the party's candidate in Glasgow Govan in the 1999 Scottish Parliament election,[14] where she came in third place with 2,343 votes (8.88%).
In 2000,she resigned from the Conservatives in response to William Hague's "right wing" pronouncements on asylum seekers.[16] She briefly joined the Labour Party before declaring that she would join the Scottish National Party (SNP),and was welcomed as a 'defector'. "I am not an opportunist,I have changed political parties - so what?",Ahmed-Sheikh said at the time.[15] Salmond said he was "glad she had joined the party".[15]
In the 2015 general election,Ahmed-Sheikh was elected to the UK Parliament in the Ochil and South Perthshire constituency,earning 46% of the vote as the SNP took the seat from Labour incumbent Gordon Banks.[20] She was Scotland's first female Muslim MP.[21] However she lost the seat at the following 2017 general election to Luke Graham of the Conservative Party.[22] During that election campaign,financial allegations emerged,regarding her time as a solicitor;calls were made for her to be suspended from the SNP,but leader Nicola Sturgeon stood by her.[23][24]
Ahmed-Sheikh spoke alongside Alex Salmond in North Macedonia the day that he died in October 2024.[27] She was in fact sitting next to him at lunch when Salmond collapsed and died. Ahmed-Sheikh was struggling to open a bottle of ketchup,when Salmond reached over to help,before collapsing to the floor.[28]
Ahmed-Sheikh founded and chaired the Scottish Asian Women's Association. It launched on 19 April 2012 at Stirling Castle,with the Scottish government supporting this event,to the equivalent of around £16,000.[31] Ahmed-Sheikh resigned as a trustee of SAWA after her election as an MP in 2015.[32] In January 2016,The Herald reported that during the period Ahmed-Sheikh was chair,only a small proportion (3%) of the SAWA's income had been donated to charitable causes.[32] The charity was wound up in 2018.[33]
She was involved with British Muslim Awards from its inception,presenting the awards at the inaugural ceremony in 2013[34] and in 2014.[35]
Ahmed-Sheikh wrote a column in The National for eight years,signing off in March 2023.[40]
Personal life
A Muslim,Ahmed-Sheikh married Zulfiqar Sheikh in 1991 and they have four children.[41]
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