Labour's Tulip Siddiq, granddaughter of Bangladesh founder, wins 4th MP term

TULIP SIDDIQ, a Labour politician and granddaughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founder of the south Asian state of Bangladesh, was re-elected to the British parliament in the general election of 2024 and is expected to play a bigger role in the government her party formed after sweeping the polls under the leadership of prime minister Keir Starmer.

The 41-year-old defeated Conservative opponent Don Williams in the constituency of Hampstead and Highgate which was created from her old seat of Hampstead and Kilburn in the Greater London county. Siddiq, daughter of Sheikh Rehana, the younger sister of Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, was elected as the MP three times from the now-defunct Hampstead and Kilburn seat in the 2010s.

She garnered more than 48 per cent of the votes polled in her constituency as against 17.4 per cent by Williams.

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Siddiq is among four Bangladeshi-origin Labour MPs who have been re-elected in this election, the other three being Apsana Begum, Rushanara Ali and Dr Rupa Haque.

Bangladesh's founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at a press conference in London in January 1972. (Photo by Douglas Miller/Keystone/Getty Images)

After her victory, Siddiq said, “Thank you everyone. With your prayers, I have been elected for a fourth time. Our Bangladeshi community has always supported me. I am very grateful. They have supported me this time as well," according to bdnews24.com.

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Siddiq, who was born in London in 1982, was first elected as an MP in 2015. She was re-elected in 2017 and 2019 despite the Labour failing to win power.

She previously held several roles in the shadow cabinet as an MP and is expected to don the role of a minister in the new government of Starmer.

Siddiq spent her childhood in Bangladesh, India and Singapore and holds a master's degree in politics, policy and government from King's College London. She joined the Labour Party at the age of 16 and worked with organisations such as Amnesty International Greater London and Save the Children.

In 2008, the Labour leader also took part in the campaign of former US president Barack Obama.

The Labour swept the elections by winning 412 of 650 seats while the Conservatives saw their tally crashing to 121, putting them out of power for the first time since 2010.