Why are London councillors running for office in Bangladesh?

0:02Hi, I'm Charlie Duffield and welcome back to The Standard Podcast. If you're new here, hit follow and give us a rating. For all the latest news, head to standard.co.uk. Coming up later in the show, how would you feel if your local elected official decided to launch a campaign to hold office elsewhere? But first, councillors in the capital have been criticised for campaigning to become members of parliament in another country while holding office in East London. Two councillors in Tower Hamlets have won the endorsement of the Bangladeshi National Party to fight the 2026 elections, which is scheduled for February and will be the first polls in the country since student-led protests toppled former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024.

0:56Tower Hamlets is a diverse borough with people from all over the world. It has one of the highest Bangladeshi populations in the UK, with about 34 % of those in Tower Hamlets with heritage from the country, making it the single biggest ethnic group of the borough. A spokesperson for the council has insisted that the councillors have broken no law in England or Bangladesh. The government has described the situation as unacceptable, but so far the councillors are unrepentant. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government added that all councillors must uphold the Nolan principles including integrity, objectivity, accountability.

1:40The government earlier this year sent ministerial envoys into Tower Hamlets Council to monitor what it described as failing governance. It concluded that the local authority's decision-making was dominated by an inner circle around the borough's controversial executive mayor, Lutfer Rahman, who leads the Aspire party. He's been accused of divisive community politics and capitalising on the Bengali vote in Tower Hamlets, whilst not representing all residents in the borough, which he denies. Joining us now is The Standards' Chief Political Correspondent, Rachel Burford. Rachel, when did you first come across this story and who's involved?

2:23Last month, we published a story about councillors in Tower Hamlet. They began campaigning to become the equivalent of MPs in Bangladesh while they're supposed to be serving constituents in East London. Quite a few have suggested they will stand in the Bangladeshi elections that are due to take place in February. There's Sabina Khan, who is a councillor for Mile End. She was elected for Labour originally at the last local elections, but she defected to the Aspire party, which is the party that runs Tower Hamlets Council. She defected to them last year and she's been out in Bangladesh campaigning for the Bangladesh National Party.

3:00So she's missed quite a lot of meetings at Tower Hamlets Town Hall and residents said, you know, they haven't been able to get hold of her. And you can see from her social media pages, she's often talking about the economy in Bangladesh. She's talking about what she would do if she was an MP. Residents told us that they felt that this was unfair. You know, they elected her to represent them in the town hall. When they've got things like housing issues, they're totally unable to get a hold of her. Two other councillors as well in town, they're both independent, have suggested that they would like to run.

3:30You can see from their social media, they're posting about things like potholes in certain areas of Bangladesh. And just residents seem to be a bit annoyed, really, that they have elected these people to represent them and they are not. They are campaigning for election in another country, something that the government said was unacceptable. There are no actual laws against it. You've got someone who should be representing you at the council and suddenly they start campaigning to be elected, not even in another constituency in Britain, but in a country across the other side of the world. It does seem now to just be two councillors campaigning to stand in Bangladesh.

4:05Who is the other one we should know about? It's Ohid Ahmed, who's an independent councillor. He was actually elected as an Aspire councillor but left the party. He represents Lansbury Ward in Poplar and he has been campaigning to become a BNP, Bangladesh National Party candidate as well. Both of these councillors have said they will step down if they are elected in Bangladesh in February. We've got local elections coming up not until May next year. Either they have a very quick by-election or there'll be people in Tower Hamlets if these councillors are elected that are not seeing the representation they perhaps should leading up to February but also will be left without councillors if they are elected for several months.

4:47What influence does Bengali politics have on British politics? There are people from all over the world in Tower Hamlets and it's always been like that because traditionally there was the dockyards there and you know you had people coming from somalia and asia and all over the world ended up settling there tower hamlets has long been you know quite proud of its association with bangladesh there are a lot of people from bangladesh settled there you know if you go to white chapel station uh signs are in english and bengali a lot of the people that are representing those residents in east london have got an association with the country, maybe originally from there.

5:23The point is that they're not living there now and they were voted into office by people in London. And I think some of those people that we spoke to feel quite let down by their representatives. There is a big link between Tower Hamlets and Bangladesh. There are other MPs who have family who have served in Bangladesh in governments. There is obviously a link between our two countries. It happened before that Tower Hamlets councillors have then gone on to be elected officials in Bangladesh after they've stepped down here. Camden, it's happened, and a couple of other boroughs. In Bangladesh, what's going on in London politics, and particularly Tower Hamlets, is covered quite significantly.

6:02You see in the Bangladeshi press, they'll talk about what's happening in Tower Hamlets and what councillors there are doing. You know, there are Bengali language newspapers in Tower Hamlets, there is a Bengali language TV channel that councillors often appear on. There is a significant link between our two countries. And obviously, you know, you see in this country all the time, many MPs were formerly councillors, and that is their route into politics. They go through local politics, and they step up to national politics. What's different in this case, obviously, is these are councillors doing essentially that, but they're doing local politics in Britain, you know, going on to try and become national politicians in a completely different country.

6:39So that is where the kind of problem is arising. And tell me more about these elections. The elections in Bangladesh are scheduled for February. They were called after Hassina, the prime minister there, was forced to step down because there was these very, very violent protests. She'd been the prime minister there for more than 20 years in two terms until she was deposed last August. And there's been a lot of disruption in the country. Then there was these huge protests. I think it was the worst violence Bangladesh had seen since its War of Independence in 1971. a lot of people were killed and I think at least 90 people died while she sort of clung on to power in her last days and she is actually the aunt of the Labour MP Tulip Sadiq who she had to resign as I think you might remember as Keir Starmer's anti-corruption minister after she faced a slew of corruption allegations.

7:31Her family have been accused of embezzling billions of pounds from infrastructure spending in Bangladesh, connections with properties in London and all sorts. let's go to a break coming up in part two the government has condemned tower hamlet's council but can anything be done to restore the borough's integrity we'll see you back here in just a moment

7:57welcome back so what's the context for this story as i mentioned in the introduction last year there was a very revealing inspection report this has been a big point of contention Someone like Sabina Khan, who is out in Bangladesh a lot campaigning, she holds a role on the town hall's overview and scrutiny committee. The government sort of last year raised concerns about Tauhamet's council and the way it was being run. They sent in ministerial envoys to monitor what the government describes as failing governance there. So an inspection report in 2024 found that a lack of trust and respects between the political parties meant the executive of the town hall remained unchallenged.

8:37and it concluded that the local authorities' decision-making was dominated by an inner circle, as the word the report used, around the boroughs' executive mayor, Lutfer Rahman. OK, tell me more about him. He leads the Aspire Party and he is quite a controversial figure in local politics. He was banned from holding office in 2015. He was banned from standing in elections in the UK for five years after being found in electoral court of electoral fraud. And then sort of Labour took over the borough after that. And then once he had served out his ban, he then stood again in the local elections last time round and won.

9:15But the government has raised concerns about the way the council is continuing to be run. In, I think, January, it's praised some of the staff working at the council, but said poor behaviour by councillors is distracting from making improvements. They've raised sort of value for money concerns about the council. They said that councillors' behaviour in public meetings goes beyond the usual political theatre and that all sides say they're trying to change their ways. This is not yet evidenced in a range of public meetings. The Scrutiny Committee plays a big part in scrutinising what the council does and Sabina Khan is a member of that committee but obviously not coming to meetings because she is involved in campaigning to become elected in another country.

9:57Her doing that has raised extra concerns about the way the town hall is being run at the moment. And there's been a new development, hasn't there? Steve Reid, who's the Community Secretary, Communities and Housing Secretary, he's written to Tower Hamlets Council and urged them to do all they can to stop councillors campaigning in another country, especially while their local authority is facing significant criticism. He's said in his letter that I'm appalled that any councillor elected by local people to serve their interests would even consider abandoning their commitment to campaign in another country.

10:31I'm particularly disappointed that Tower Hamlets councillors will consider doing so while the councillor is on a significant improvement journey. That journey requires a dedicated and fully engaged political leadership to grip and deliver the necessary change. And he said he wants to urge the council to do all it can to stop this situation and remind other councillors in the borough that their focus needs to be on helping the people of Tower Hamlets. Steve Reader said he's appalled by these reports and, you know, has written to the council to say they shouldn't be doing this, that it is wrong.

11:01The caveat to that is there's nothing in UK law that prevents councillors from standing in elections abroad. They've said they will stand down in London if they are elected. So the government and now the community secretary have both said this is appalling, it shouldn't be happening. But the Talhamnits Council says, well, UK law does not automatically disqualify a person from being a councillor in Talhamnits solely because they're running to hold office in another country. So, I mean, the law is on their side. How do you think local residents are feeling then? Sabina Khan, she was elected as a Labour councillor.

11:35She defected to the Aspire party, and now she's running for the Bangladesh National Party. Residents in Mile End, who did vote for her, feel very let down because they voted for her as a Labour candidate. Now she's defected to another party and now she's off in another country running for a completely different party. Although obviously not illegal, it does feel wrong. This, I think a lot of people just think is a step way too far because when you look at the Bangladesh National Party's policies perhaps and the way it conducts itself in elections and when campaigning, they are not policies or behaviour that would fly in this country at all.

12:12The Bangladesh National Party doesn't have a policy that supports gay rights or same-sex relationships. Candidates have in the past made derogatory marks about LGBT people, which obviously is something that the Labour Party fully supports. If you can be elected for the Labour Party, obviously a mainstream party in this country, then you do a defect to a local party that runs the borough. And now you're running for the Bangladesh National Party. It does feel like it shows a sort of lack of integrity and it feels like you were standing on tickets that you think you can win on and now you're going to another country.

12:47Finally, is there anything else you want to add? What these councillors are doing, they will not see it necessarily as wrong. The residents of East London, it just feels like almost disrespectful, really, to have someone that you elected say, well, this is actually not my priority anymore. Your issues are not my priority. They're using their sort of position in London as a way of promoting themselves in Bangladesh. You know, they say, I've got experience helping to run it in the City London Council. Therefore, I'm sort of qualified to come over to Bangladesh and become an MP here.

13:27And that's The Standard. For all the latest news, head to standard.co.uk. If you'd like to get in touch, please do drop us a line at podcasts at standard.co.uk. We'll be back here tomorrow morning. We'll see you then.