Sir Keir Starmer met a senior member of Bangladesh’s ousted ruling party last month, despite accusations by the Awami League of embezzlement and allowing its security forces to kill protesters.
The British prime minister met Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury, the ousted mayor of Sylhet and a key party figure, at a Labor dinner at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Glasgow in December. The pair were photographed in conversation at a black-tie event held for Labor supporters.
The meeting was the culmination of a decade of bridge-building between the Awami League and Labor that helped the British party win key parliamentary seats and make inroads with the British Bangladeshi community.
However, allegations of corruption have surfaced against certain members of the former ruling family in Bangladesh Starmer’s City Minister under pressure, Tulip Siddiqand raised questions about the wisdom of the long-forged relationship between the two sides.
The Awami League — led by Siddiq’s aunt Sheikh Hasina — ruled the South Asian country 16 years ago to be demolished in a student protest last summer.
Hundreds of people in Bangladesh were killed during the summer when police and supporters of Sheikh Hasina clashed with protesters. Regime-linked forces have been accused of using disproportionate force against civilians, including firing live rounds.
Siddiq was named in an investigation by Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission last month into allegations that her family siphoned off $5 billion from a nuclear power project. The family rejects all allegations of wrongdoing.
Earlier this week, Siddiq also approached the government’s ethics watchdog after the Financial Times revealed that a person linked to the Awami League had gifted her a £195,000 property in London’s King’s Cross.
Social media posts reveal that Labor has become closely associated with the Awami League over the years, including accepting support from elected Bangladeshi politicians.
Starmer was pictured receiving a donation check on behalf of Labor from a person linked to the Awami League, while he and Sadiq Khan, the Labor mayor of London, were photographed in a meeting with key figures, including Chowdhury.
Khan posted on Facebook that it was a “real honor” to meet Chowdhury last May, after receiving his support ahead of the capital’s mayoral election. During the meeting, Chowdhury said he has been campaigning for Khan for more than a decade.
Chowdhury did not respond to a request for comment.
The relationship also helped Labor reach out to the British Bangladeshi community ahead of the general election. FT analysis of election data suggests there were at least 17 parliamentary seats where the Bangladeshi voting population was greater than Labour’s winning majority last July.
Starmer’s own seat of Holborn and St Pancras — which he won by a majority of around 11,000 last summer — has more than 6,000 voting residents of Bangladeshi origin.
Awami League supporters campaigned across the country for Labor in last year’s general election, appearing at events in Lancashire and Greater Manchester and accompanying Siddiq on campaign trips, according to social media posts and people familiar with the events.
A Labor official told the FT that the “invasion” of the community was prompted in part by connections between Siddiq and her once-ruling family in Bangladesh.
Her grandfather, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, helped lead the country to independence from Pakistan in 1971 before he was assassinated along with many of her family members four years later. Only Siddiq’s mother, Sheikha Rehana, and her aunt survived.
“Siddiq’s family are the Kennedys of Bangladeshi politics,” the official said.
Sheikh Hasina, who secured her fourth term in 2023 amid allegations of vote-rigging, has long been seen as a secular force against Islamist politics in the region. But the regime has been accused of siphoning funds from the country’s banks and using detention without charge to silence dissidents.
Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal on Monday issued arrest warrants for Sheikh Hasina and 11 of her top officials for their alleged role in the enforced disappearances.
Chris Hopkins, director of political research at pollster Savant, said Labor relies more on the diaspora vote than its political rivals – forcing it to form alliances to reach out to certain communities.
“It may not be on the mind of the Westminster bubble, but it will be on the mind of these communities and, rightly or wrongly, Labor will become guilty by association,” Hopkins added.
The grassroots organization Labor Friends of Bangladesh — which was founded in 2005 but has become increasingly closely associated with the Awami League — has also played a prominent role in coordinating Labor’s campaign efforts.
“In the past few years [Labour Friends of Bangladesh] largely used to promote the Awami League,” said Ohid Ahmed, a former member of the League’s main political rivals, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, who founded the core group but left Labor in 2010. “I don’t think anyone on the other side or who trusted other political parties . . . he was even able to attend their meetings.”
Howard Dawber, chairman of Labor Friends Bangladesh since 2010 and deputy mayor of London, said the organization had supporters from all parties and had “worked very hard not to be drawn into Bangladeshi politics”. He added: “It’s hard to walk the tightrope.”
Now Labour’s use of the Awami League as a channel to reach out to the minority community may have to change.
“Labor has historically seen the Awami League as a good vehicle for getting votes, but despite that a lot has changed because it has a misconception that it still has community support,” said Ashraf Hoque, associate professor of social anthropology at University College London.
As well as the diminished position of the Awami League, treating British-Bangladeshi voters as a single bloc fed useless stories about the community, he added. “It’s a dysfunctional feature of Labor politics.”
Labor said: “The UK and Bangladesh have long-standing ties in areas of mutual interest such as trade and security. It is perfectly legitimate for politicians to meet with others from around the world, as do MPs from all parties. Again, this does not mean an endorsement of their policies.”
Additional reporting by Oliver Hawkins
