Bangabandhu’s grand-daughter Tulip Siddiq was elected to British parliament twice consecutively and has become a candidate for the third time from the same London constituency. She now has the challenge to win for a third time. The Dec 12 election is centred in the Brexit conundrum.
It’s believed that Brexit position of the voters will determine the outcome of the election with candidate and party becoming peripheral.
But Tulip may win due to her popular image, political observers feel.
The east European plus the Asian population in her area will be instrumental in her winning, they said.
Tulip is the second child of economic professor Dr Shafiq Siddiq and Sheikh Rehana and was elected for the first time in 2015 with 23,977 votes. In 2017, she bagged 34,464 votes and was re-elected.
Tulip joined the Labour Party when she was 16.
Tulip is currently busy carrying out her pre-election hustings because unlike east London, Hampstead and Kilburn, do not have a predominance of Bangladeshis. The main determining factor here for winning comes from the Jewish voters and Tulip is trying to win them over.
This time, the Labour Party’s main rival is Lib Dem’s, Matt Sanders.
Political specialists feel that Tulips’s kind, considerate and empathetic attitude will give her an edge over her competitors.
During this election, Brexit will be the key factor and not party or candidate. Conservative Party leader Boris Johnson has promised to complete Brexit pullout by end January while Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has promised that if they go to power then they will negotiate a changed Brexit deal. Along with hundreds of Labout candidates, Tulip is also part of Remain Labour Campaign Pledge.
A Bangladeshi voter in Hampstead and Kilburn, said: “We will vote for Tulip because we always get her support in times of need.”