Early life and education
Tulip Siddiq was born on 16 September 1982 in Sutton, London. She is the daughter of former Dhaka University professor Shafique Ahmed Siddique, [6] [7] [8] and Sheikh Rehana, [6] who gained political asylum in the UK as a teenager. [9] The two met when Shafique Siddique was studying for a PhD, [10] and married in Kilburn in 1980. Siddiq was born in St Helier Hospital [8] in St Helier, London, and has an elder brother, Radwan "Bobby" Mujib, [11] [12] [13] and a younger sister, Azmina Siddiq. [14] When she was 15, the family moved to Hampstead. [15] She was raised a Muslim and has said that her "family embraced multicultural Britain".
She attended Scholastica, Dhaka, Bangladesh, [16] The Royal School, Hampstead, [17] and Mill Hill School [18] before completing her undergraduate degree in English Literature at University College London and then a master's degree at King's College London. In September 2011, she completed a second master's degree in Politics, Policy and Government. [19]
Her maternal grandfather is Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding leader, second prime minister of Bangladesh, and its first president. [12] Her mother's elder sister, Sheikh Hasina, was prime minister of Bangladesh from 1996 to 2001 and from 2009 until her resignation amid the July Revolution in 2024. [20] [21]
Early political career
At the age of 16, Siddiq joined the Labour Party. [15] Her father suffered a stroke, which left him disabled [9] and unable to speak for five years. [10] [9] She has cited the National Health Service and the care her disabled father received as the reason why she joined. [22] She identified former Labour minister Barbara Castle as her political heroine, [8] and has described her mother and maternal aunt as "two very strong feminists". [23]
In a 2006 by-election, Siddiq stood unsuccessfully for Camden Council. [8] In the 2010 local government elections, she became the first female Bangladeshi councillor for Camden Council, [24] where she was Cabinet Member for Culture and Communities until May 2014. [25]
Circa 2009, she worked for the Bangladesh Awami League political party in the UK and EU lobbying unit and election strategy team, and appeared on BBC television as a spokesperson for the Awami League. [26] [27]
In July 2013, Siddiq was selected by local party members as the Labour prospective parliamentary candidate for the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency, [22] [28] [29] [30] [31] despite a smear campaign. [32] She later said that because of her Muslim surname, she was advised against standing in the constituency by senior party members, due to Hampstead's large Jewish population. [33] During 2013 and 2014, she campaigned against the proposed high-speed railway expansion High Speed 2, [34] and high payday lender charges on Kilburn High Road. [22] She also campaigned in support of local services, such as to keep Belsize Fire Station open, [35] to improve disabled access at West Hampstead tube station, [36] and to save the Swiss Cottage post office. [37]
Parliamentary career
1st term (2015–2017)
At the 2015 general election, Siddiq was elected to Parliament as MP for Hampstead and Kilburn with 44.4% of the vote and a majority of 1,138. [38] [39] [40] [41] [42]
In June 2015, Siddiq was appointed a vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group against Antisemitism. [43] [44] She is also a member of the Women and Equalities Select Committee. [45] In the same month, she was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election, [46] although she later supported Andy Burnham. [47]
In September 2015, Siddiq, along with Keir Starmer and Catherine West, wrote a letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron seeking urgent action to address the refugee crisis due to the Syrian Civil War. [48] [49] [50] In the same month, she was appointed Permanent Private Secretary to the Shadow Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, Michael Dugher. [51] [52] In November 2015, she campaigned against changes to junior doctor contracts. [53] In the same month, Siddiq's maiden speech in Parliament was judged one of the top seven from 2015's intake of MPs by the BBC. [54] In October 2016, she was appointed as Shadow Education Minister in the Labour Party's frontbench in Parliament, [55] [56] taking on the childcare and early years education brief and working with Shadow Secretary of State for Education Angela Rayner. [57]
In November 2016, Siddiq supported a motion in Parliament for the UK to withdraw support for the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. [58] In January 2017, she resigned from the Labour frontbench over Labour's three-line whip, to vote against triggering Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. She stated that because around 75% of her Hampstead and Kilburn constituency had voted to remain in the European Union as one of the top 10 remain areas, she could not support Labour's position though with a "heavy heart". [59] [60] She won an endorsement from Camden for Europe, Open Britain and Best for Britain, due to her decision to vote against Article 50. [61] In May 2017, ahead of the 2017 general election, Siddiq supported a group of Labour MPs who argued Labour should stand down in certain Green party target seats where they were more likely than Labour to defeat the Consevatives. [62]
2nd term (2017–2019)
At the snap 2017 general election, Siddiq was re-elected as MP for Hampstead and Kilburn with an increased vote share of 59% and an increased majority of 15,560. [63] [64]
In August 2017, Siddiq called for businesses to "address imbalance" in the employment of people from ethnic minorities to improve the diversity of its workforce. [65] In September 2017, she was appointed as Chair of the new Childcare and Early Education All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG). [66] In the same month, she wrote to the Home Office to ask for children's passports to be amended to contain both their parents' names to avoid confusion at airports and borders. She had been stopped with her daughter at UK border control whilst returning from a family holiday until her husband joined them, because she did not have the same surname in her passport as her child. [67] [68] [69]
In November 2017, whilst campaigning for the release of her constituent, the British-Iranian citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was detained in Iran, she was asked by Alex Thomson of Channel 4 News and ITN about using her family ties to the Bangladeshi government, led by her aunt, in order to liberate British Bangladeshi barrister Ahmad Bin Quasem, who is thought to have been abducted by state security forces in Bangladesh. The programme's editor, Ben de Pear, complained about Siddiq's "threatening behaviour" to a pregnant producer, while Siddiq complained to the police about her interlocutors. [70] [71] [72] She later apologised in a statement to the producer, Daisy Ayliffe, for the offence caused. [71]
In May 2018, Siddiq supported an equal pay campaign aimed at building pressure on employers. [73] In the same month, she described the actions of the Israeli military during demonstrations on the Gaza border as "unjustified" and "inhumane". She said: "I condemn without reservation these violations of international law and human rights by Israel... The protest has been twofold – to highlight the shocking conditions which Palestinians are forced to live in and to demand their right to return to their homes..." [74] In August 2018, she joined international calls for her aunt's government to release Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam, who had been jailed after reporting about protests by schoolchildren over road safety problems, and had subsequently stated he was tortured. [75] [76]
3rd term (2019–2024)
Siddiq was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, with a decreased vote share of 48.9% and a decreased majority of 14,188. [77] [78]
4th term (since 2024)
Due to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, Siddiq's constituency of Hampstead and Kilburn was abolished, and replaced with Hampstead and Highgate. At the 2024 general election, Siddiq was elected to Parliament as MP for Hampstead and Highgate with 48.3% of the vote and a majority of 14,970. [79]
In December 2024, Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) named Siddiq in an investigation into infrastructure projects, including a 2013 deal with Russia for Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, in which it is claimed up to £3.9 billion was embezzled. Siddiq attended the nuclear deal's signing at the Kremlin alongside her aunt Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The investigation was started through a court application brought by a political opponent of Siddiq's aunt. [80] [81] Siddiq's current parliamentary brief includes regulating corruption in the financial sector. [80] On 19 December, Siddiq had a meeting with the Cabinet Office Propriety and Ethics Team to discuss the allegations. [82] [83] Following the Financial Times reporting that a developer with links to the Awami League gave a flat bought in 2001 for £195,000 to Siddiq without charge in 2004, rather than being a gift from her parents as previously reported, Siddiq referred herself on 6 January 2025 to the prime minister's Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests to independently establish the facts. [84] Siddiq continued to be subject to considerable media attention about her political future after the announcement. [85] [86] [87]
The ACC later named Siddiq in another investigation into the alleged illegal allocation of 21,600 square feet (0.5 acres) of diplomatic zone land to Siddiq's mother and siblings. The affidavit filed by the ACC stated "it is known that [Ms Siddiq] exerted pressure and influence ... for the allotment of plots in the same project in the names of her mother, Mrs Rehana Siddiq, her sister Ms Azmina Siddiq, and her brother Mr Radwan Mujib Siddiq." A spokesperson said that Siddiq rebutted the claim. [88] [89]
On 14 January 2025, the Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests report was published, in which he stated while he found no evidence of improprieties it was regrettable Siddiq "was not more alert to the potential reputational risks", but the shortcomings were not a breach of the Ministerial Code, though he advised the prime minister to "consider her ongoing responsibilities". [90] [91] Later that day Siddiq resigned from government, stating that although she had not breached the ministerial code, the ethics investigation was a distraction from the work of government. [90] [92]
Controversies
Allegations of ties to the Bangladesh Awami League
In 2019, Siddiq denied involvement in Bangladeshi politics but faced accusations of utilizing Awami League supporters in her Hampstead and Kilburn campaign. [99] Footage from a 2017 meeting showed her expressing gratitude to these supporters, stating, "Without your support, I would not have been able to win my seat." [100] Previously, she acknowledged working for the Awami League's EU and UK lobbying unit and election strategy team. Two Labour officials also claimed that the Awami League supported her 2024 election campaign. [101]
In 2015, Siddiq spoke at an event for the Centre for Research and Information (CRI), a group accused of disseminating misinformation in support of Sheikh Hasina's government. Siddiq praised her aunt's leadership at the event, despite later attempts to distance herself from Bangladeshi politics. [102]
In August 2024, it was revealed that Siddiq resided in a property owned by a businessman with close ties to the Awami League. [103] Two years earlier, she faced scrutiny for living in a home owned by Salman F Rahman, an Awami League minister and business tycoon. The property was registered under Rahman's son through an offshore company in the Isle of Man. [103]
In January 2025, it was revealed that Siddiq was gifted a flat in London in 2004 by Abdul Motalif, a property developer linked to the Awami League. [104] Following these revelations, she referred herself to the ministerial standards watchdog for an independent investigation. [105] In the same month, The Telegraph reported that Siddiq, along with Awami League MP Kazi Nabil Ahmed, attended two matches of the 2019 Cricket World Cup as a freebie. The cost of each ticket was £358.80, including lunch. [106] [107] [108]
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Investigation
In July 2024, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards investigated Siddiq for failing to declare income from a rental property. The commissioner concluded that the omission was "inadvertent" and accepted Siddiq's explanation for the late registration. [109] [110]
Resignation and corruption allegations
On 14 January 2025, Tulip Siddiq resigned from her position as Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister. [119] Her resignation came amid growing pressure over her connections to corruption allegations in Bangladesh involving her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, the former prime minister who was ousted in August 2024 [120] .Siddiq was named in multiple corruption investigations in Bangladesh:
- An embezzlement probe alleging that her family misappropriated funds from infrastructure projects in Dhaka, including a $5 billion embezzlement linked to a power plant construction. [121]
- An investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) of Bangladesh into money laundering and power misuse. [122]
- A third inquiry launched by Bangladeshi authorities, as confirmed by ACC Director General Akhtar Hossain.
In her resignation letter, Siddiq maintained her innocence but acknowledged that the ongoing situation could distract from the government's work. Prime Minister Keir Starmer accepted her resignation, noting that no evidence of financial misconduct had been found.The UK Anti-Corruption Coalition called for Siddiq to relinquish her economic crime responsibilities due to a potential conflict of interest, given her family ties to the deposed regime in Bangladesh. [123]
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