UK considers replacing Tulip Siddiq over link to Hasina regime: Report

The authorities in the United Kingdom have reportedly started looking for replacements of its treasury minister Tulip Siddiq, amid concerns that she may be compelled to step down due to her alleged ties to the ousted Sheikh Hasina regime in Bangladesh

British daily The Times reported that senior allies of prime minister Keir Starmer are considering candidates to replace Tulip Siddiq if she is forced to quit over links to her aunt’s ousted Bangladeshi regime. 

According to the report, officials are said to have identified candidates to succeed the treasury minister over the weekend, before the public announcement that Siddiq had referred herself to the prime minister’s ethics watchdog was made on Monday.

One Labour source said Siddiq’s referral “suggests that she’s willing to fall on her sword” and that she was “on the way out”.

Earlier, prime minister Starmer has said he has full confidence in Siddiq, and a No 10 spokesman said it was “completely untrue” to suggest the party had drawn up a shortlist. But The Times has been told some of those close to the prime minister are at least informally considering who could succeed her.

Among the candidates who may be considered by No 10 are the two ministerial aides to Rachel Reeves, Alistair Strathern and Imogen Walker.

Others who could be considered for the role include Callum Anderson, a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the science and technology department, as well as Kanishka Narayan and Josh Simons, PPSs in the environment department, and Rachel Blake, whose constituency covers the City.

Lucy Rigby, the attorney general, and Torsten Bell, an economist who is also a ministerial aide, may also be considered strong options.

On Monday, Siddiq referred herself to Sir Laurie Magnus, the independent adviser on ministers’ interests, amid questions about her use of several properties linked to the government of her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted as Bangladesh’s prime minister following widespread protests in August.

Financial-crime officials at Bangladesh’s central bank have demanded bank-account details for Siddiq and seven of her family members, and the country’s anti-corruption commission is investigating whether she helped embezzle billions of pounds in a deal for a Russian-funded nuclear-power plant.

Siddiq has come under increasing pressure after it was revealed she was given a £700,000 London flat by a supporter of her aunt’s Awami League party and her sister received a £650,000 property from one of Hasina’s advisers. A spokesman for the minister has said it was “categorically wrong” to suggest the properties were linked to her support for the Awami League.

In her referral to Magnus, Siddiq said: “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. I will obviously ensure you have all the information you need to do this.”

Siddiq is also facing questions after a dissident lawyer claimed his family were threatened by Bangladeshi police enforcers after Siddiq was questioned by journalists in London.

Siddiq, who at the time was not a member of the shadow cabinet, was questioned by Channel 4 about Mir Ahmad bin Quasem, a British-trained lawyer who was detained in 2016 while on the legal team of a rival politician.

Quasem’s mother had written to Siddiq asking her to “look into this matter” as she had “seen you promoting peace in your speeches during your visit in Bangladesh”. Siddiq says she wrote to a Foreign Office minister at the time, who said they would raise the case with the High Commission in Dhaka.

Hours before the footage of the interview aired, the Bangladeshi police’s rapid-action battalion, which has been accused of extra-judicial killings and torture, visited Quasem’s family at his home in Dhaka.

Quasem, who was released after Hasina’s fall last year, told The Times: “My wife, my mother, my children did not know, for eight years, if I was alive or dead. No one should have to live through that, to suffer like that, and it was in her power to change it … what I experienced was a fate worse than death. It was a systematic, well-thought-through torture.”

Asked what Siddiq could have done, Quasem said: “The least she could have done is raised the issue inside her family and asked if it could be traced, so my family would at least know if I was alive or dead.”

He added: “If she continues in office, it is detrimental to the image of Britain and British MPs globally. The UK is a hallmark of human rights, freedom of association, freedom of speech. Bangladesh’s laws are based on British laws. But the failure to stand up for these values diminishes the UK’s standing in Bangladesh and beyond.”

An ally of Siddiq said she had no understanding of the circumstances around the raid in Bangladesh and was not involved in any aspect.

A spokesman for Siddiq said: “No evidence has been presented for these allegations. Tulip has not been contacted by anyone on the matter and totally refutes the claims.”