Tulip’s citizenship scandal: A new nightmare for Starmer
Labour has been plunged into fresh controversy after newly uncovered documents appear to contradict MP Tulip Siddiq’s repeated denials that she ever held Bangladeshi citizenship documents including a national identity card and passport.
Records obtained by officials in Dhaka and shared with The Times and Prothom Alo, Bangladesh’s leading newspaper, show that Tulip, now 43, was issued a Bangladeshi passport in London in September 2001, when she was 19. A national identity card was also issued to her in January 2011, according to official databases.
The revelations come as Siddiq, who resigned in January as Sir Keir Starmer’s anti-corruption minister to avoid becoming a “distraction”, faces trial in absentia in Bangladesh over allegations she improperly influenced her aunt, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, to secure land in Dhaka for family members.
Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission has described the alleged land transfers as an “abuse of power”.
Documents contradict denials
According to The Times, passport records indicate Siddiq applied to renew her Bangladeshi passport in January 2011 at the Agargaon Passport Office in Dhaka. Entries in Bangladesh’s Election Commission database further list her national ID and passport numbers, along with a voter registration number.
In both records, her permanent address is listed as a Dhaka property belonging to her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted as prime minister following mass protests in August 2024.
These findings directly contradict statements made by Tulip and her legal team. In August, her lawyers at Stephenson Harwood told the Financial Times: “Tulip has never had a Bangladesh national identity card or voter ID and has not held a passport since she was a child.”
When presented with copies of the documents, a spokesperson for Tulip dismissed them as “fabricated” and part of a “politically motivated smear campaign” by Bangladeshi authorities.
“This is a deliberate and desperate attempt to undermine her credibility and reputation,” the spokesperson added.
Dual citizenship and past statements
Under Bangladeshi law, citizenship, and therefore eligibility for a passport and national ID, is granted to anyone born in the country or to those with at least one Bangladeshi parent, regardless of birthplace. Tulip, born in Britain to Bangladeshi parents, is legally entitled to dual citizenship.
Yet she has previously sought to distance herself from her Bangladeshi identity. In 2017, when asked whether she would intervene in the case of a British-trained barrister imprisoned in Bangladesh, she responded sharply: “Are you calling me Bangladeshi? Because I am British — be very careful what you’re saying. I’m a British MP. I am not Bangladeshi.”
Trial in Absentia
Tulip is currently being tried in Bangladesh for allegedly using her familial ties to influence land allocations for her mother, brother, and sister. She has denied any wrongdoing, branding the case against her as “persecution and a farce”.
The emergence of official documents now threatens to deepen political embarrassment for Labour, and for Sir Keir Starmer, as questions mount over Tulip Siddiq’s transparency and the party’s vetting of ministers with international legal entanglements.
Source: Daily Express