Sir Keir Starmer met with senior members of Bangladesh’s ousted ruling party last month, even as the Awami League faces accusations of embezzlement and allowing security forces to kill protesters.
The British prime minister met Anwaruzzaman Chaudhry, the ousted mayor of Sylhet and a leading figure in the party, at a dinner hosted by the Labor Party at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow in December. The pair were photographed talking at a black-tie event held for Labor supporters.
The conference was the culmination of decades of bridge-building between the Awami League and the Labor Party, which has helped the British party win key seats and make inroads among Britain’s Bangladeshi communities.
But corruption allegations against some of Bangladesh’s former rulers have drawn City Minister Tulip Siddique, who has been under pressure from Mr Starmer, raising questions about the wisdom of the long-established relationship between the two parties. are.
The Awami League, led by Siddique’s aunt Sheikh Hasina, ruled the South Asian country for 16 years until it was overthrown in student-led protests last summer.
Hundreds of people were killed in Bangladesh during the summer when police and supporters of Sheikh Hasina clashed with protesters. Regime-linked forces were accused of using unreasonable force against civilians, including firing live ammunition.
Siddique was named in an investigation by Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission last month amid allegations that his family siphoned off $5 billion from a nuclear power plant project. The family has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
Earlier this week, Siddique also came forward to the government’s ethics watchdog after the Financial Times revealed that he had been gifted a £195,000 property in King’s Cross, London, by an Awami League official. Raised.
Social media posts reveal that the Labor Party has developed close ties with the Awami League over the years, including accepting support from Bangladesh’s elected politicians.
Mr Starmer was photographed accepting a donation check on behalf of the Labor Party from someone associated with the Awami League, and both Mr Starmer and London’s Labor mayor, Sadiq Khan, met with key figures, including Mr Chaudhry. Photographs were also taken of the area.
In May last year, Khan posted on Facebook that it was “a real honor” to meet Chaudhry, after he received his support ahead of the capital’s mayoral election. During the meeting, Chaudhry said he had campaigned for Khan for more than 10 years.
Chaudhry did not respond to requests for comment.
The relationship also helped Labor reach out to Britain’s Bangladeshi community ahead of the general election. An FT analysis of election data suggests there were at least 17 seats where the voting-age Bangladeshi population exceeded the majority Labor won in July last year.
Mr Starmer’s own seats in Holborn and St Pancras – which he won last summer with a majority of around 11,000 – are home to more than 6,000 Bangladeshis of voting age.
Awami League supporters campaigned across the country for Labor in last year’s general election, appearing at events in Lancashire and Greater Manchester, and appearing at Siddiqui’s He also accompanied him on election trips.
A senior Labor Party official told the FT that the “inroads” into the community were partly driven by Siddiq’s interactions with her family, who once ruled Bangladesh.
Her grandfather, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, helped lead Pakistan to independence from Pakistan in 1971 but was assassinated along with much of her family four years later. Only Siddique’s mother, Sheikh Rehana, and his aunt survived.
“Siddique’s family is the Kennedy family of Bangladeshi politics,” the official said.
Sheikh Hasina, who secured a fourth term in office in 2023 amid allegations of vote fraud, has long been seen as a secular force opposed to Islamist politics in the region. However, the regime was accused of siphoning funds from the country’s banks and detaining political opponents without charge to silence them.
The International Crimes Tribunal for Bangladesh on Monday issued arrest warrants for Sheikh Hasina and 11 of her top officials on suspicion of involvement in enforced disappearances.
Chris Hopkins, director of political research at polling firm Savanta, said Labor relied more on diaspora votes than on political rivals and was forced to form alliances to reach out to particular communities.
“It may not come to the fore in the Westminster bubble, but it will come to the fore in these communities and Labor will be found guilty as an association whether we like it or not,” Mr Hopkins said. added.
Bangladesh’s grassroots organization Friends of Labor, founded in 2005 but with increasingly close ties to the Awami League, also plays an important role in coordinating the Labor Party’s campaign activities.
“In the past few years, (Bangladesh Labor Friends) has been frequently used to promote Awami League,” said a former member of Awami League’s main political rival, the Bangladesh People’s Party, who founded the grassroots organization in 2010. Oyed Ahmed, who left the Labor Party, said: “I don’t think there’s anyone on the other side who believes in the other parties, or the other political parties. . . . I was even able to attend their meetings.”
Howard Dover, chairman of Bangladesh Labor Friends and deputy mayor of London since 2010, said the organization had supporters from all political parties and had “tried very hard to stay out of Bangladeshi politics”. He added: “It’s a difficult tightrope to walk.”
Labor’s current use of the Awami League as a conduit to reach out to minority communities may have to change.
“While the Labor Party has historically understood that Awami League is a good vehicle for gaining votes, it still has the mistaken view that Awami League still has support in the community. “Even though a lot has changed,” said Ashraf Haque, associate professor of social anthropology at University College. London.
He added that not only has the status of Awami League been diminished, but treating Anglo-Bangladeshi voters as a single bloc has also propagated an unhelpful narrative about the community. “This is a hallmark of dysfunctional Labor Party politics.”
Labor said: “The UK and Bangladesh have a long-standing relationship in areas of mutual interest, such as trade and security. We encourage politicians to meet with others around the world, as MPs from all parties do. is completely legal. Again, this is not an endorsement of their policy.”
Additional reporting by Oliver Hawkins
