Keir Starmer met the ousted Awami Leaguer last month

Sir Kiir Starmer last month met a senior member of Bangladesh’s ousted ruling party, despite allegations from the Awami League that he had allowed security forces to kill protesters.

The UK Prime Minister met the ousted mayor of Sylhet and key party mayor Anwaruzaman Chowdhury at a Labour-hosted dinner at Glasgow’s Crowne Plaza Hotel in December. The pair were photographed speaking at a Black Equality event for Labor supporters.

The meeting is the culmination of decades of bridge-building between the Awami League and Labour, which has helped the UK party win key parliamentary seats and build ties with the British Bangladeshi community.

However, corruption charges against members of the former ruling family of Bangladesh were brought before him. Under the pressure of Starmer City Minister Tulip SiddiqueAnd it has raised questions about the wisdom of the long-standing relationship between the two parties.

The Awami League – led by Siddiq’s aunt Sheikh Hasina – has ruled the South Asian country for 16 years. It is falling. In a student protest last summer.

Hundreds of people have been killed in Bangladesh as police and supporters of Sheikh Hasina clashed with protesters. Forces aligned with the regime have been accused of using disproportionate force against civilians by firing live bullets.

Siddiq was accused of embezzling $5 billion from a nuclear power project by the Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission last month. The family denied all the charges.

Earlier this week, Siddiq revealed she had been given a £195,000 property in King’s Cross, London, linked to the Awami League, after revealing herself to the government’s ethics watchdog, the Financial Times.

Social media posts show Labor is growing closer to the Awami League, including receiving support from elected Bangladeshi politicians.

Starmer was pictured accepting a donation check on behalf of Labor from a man linked to the Awami League, and he and the Labor mayor of London, Sadiq Khan Chaudhuri, were photographed meeting key figures.

Khan posted on Facebook that it was a real honor to meet Chowdhury last May after receiving his endorsement ahead of the capital’s mayoral election. During the meeting, Chowdhury said he had been campaigning for Khan for more than a decade.

Chowdhury did not respond to a request for comment.

The relationship helped Labor tap into the British Bangladeshi community ahead of the general election. An FT analysis of election data shows there were at least 17 parliamentary seats where Labor won the majority last July.

In Starmer’s own seat of Holborn and St Pancras – where he had a majority of around 11,000 last summer – more than 6,000 were Bangladeshis who managed to vote.

Awami League supporters campaigned for Labor across the country in last year’s general election, appearing at events in Lancashire and Greater Manchester and accompanying Siddique on campaign trips, according to social media posts and people familiar with the events.

A Labor official told the FT that the “infiltrations” into the community were partly engineered by an association between Siddiq and her family, which used to rule Bangladesh.

Her grandfather Sheikh Mujibur Rahman The only survivors were Siddique’s mother Sheikh Rehana and her aunt.

“The Siddiq family is the Kennedys of Bangladeshi politics,” the official said.

Sheikh Hasina, who secured her fourth term in office in 2023, has been accused of vote rigging and has been seen as a secular force in the region’s Islamic politics. But the regime has been accused of embezzling funds from the country’s banks and silencing the opposition with impunity.

Bangladesh’s International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Sheikh Hasina and 11 of her senior officials for alleged kidnapping.

Chris Hopkins, director of political research at Voter Savannah, said Labor was more reliant on the diaspora vote than its political rivals – forcing it to form coalitions to reach certain communities.

Hopkins added: “It may not be front of mind in the Westminster bubble, but it will be front of mind for these communities and, rightly or wrongly, Labor will be guilty by association.”

Founded in 2005 but closely associated with the Awami League – Bangladesh Labor Friends – it has also played a major role in coordinating labor campaign efforts.

“In the last few years (Bangladeshi workers) have been used a lot to promote the Awami League,” he said. “I don’t think he comes from another party or believes in other political parties. . . In fact, he was able to attend their meetings,” he said.

Howard Dauber, chairman of Bangladeshi Labor Friends since 2010 and deputy mayor of London, said the organization had supporters from all parties and “worked hard not to be drawn into Bangladeshi politics”. “It’s a tough tightrope to walk,” he added.

Now, Labor’s use of the Awami League party as a conduit to reach out to the minority community may be forced to change.

“Historically, the Labor League recognizes that it is a good vehicle for getting votes, but it holds the misconception that it commands support in the community, despite many changes,” said Ashraf Hoque, associate professor of social anthropology at University College. London.

It also diminishes the Awami League’s standing, treating British-Bangladeshi voters as a single group and feeding into unhelpful narratives about the community, he added. “Labour politics is dysfunctional.”

“The UK and Bangladesh have a long-standing relationship on common issues such as trade and security,” Labor said. It is perfectly legal for politicians to meet others around the world, as do MPs from all parties. Again, this is not an endorsement of their policies.

Additional reporting by Oliver Hawkins