New nightmare for Starmer as Tulip Siddiq accused of lying about Bangladeshi citizenship

Labour has been plunged into a fresh crisis after new details appeared to contradict Tulip Siddiq’s assertion that she had been issued a national identity card and passport. Officials in Dhaka uncovered records of a passport issued in London in September 2001 when the MP was 19 and a national identity card issued in January 2011.

Copies of the documents were shared with The Times and Prothom Alo, a prominent Bangladeshi newspaper. Ms Siddiq, 43, quit as Sir Keir Starmer's anti-corruption minister in January, saying she wanted to avoid being a "distraction".

She was allegedly illegally given land in Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital, by her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted as prime minister. The country's anti-corruption commission said it was an "abuse of power".

Entries in the country’s passport database appear to show Ms Siddiq applied to renew her passport in January 2011 at the Agargaon passport office in Dhaka. Entries into the Election Commission database also appear to confirm her national identity and passport numbers and show she has a voter registration number.

In both instances, her permanent address was listed as a house in Dhaka that belonged to her aunt, who was forced to quit amid mass protests in August last year.

Her lawyers have called the case a "politically motivated smear campaign".

The newly revealed documents and database filings appear at odds with previous comments made by the Hampstead & Highgate MP, who last month denied claims made by prosecutors that she has been issued with a national identity card and passport.

A spokesman for Ms Siddiq's lawyers, Stephenson Harwood, told the Financial Times on August 12: “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 spokesman for Siddiq claimed that they were “fabricated” and part of a “politically motivated smear campaign” by Bangladeshi authorities.

He added: “This is a deliberate and desperate attempt to undermine her credibility and reputation.”

A passport and national identity card are only issued to individuals who hold Bangladeshi citizenship, which is granted to all those who were born in the country as well as people who have a Bangladeshi parent, irrespective of where they were born.

Ms Siddiq, who was born in Britain to two Bangladeshi parents, is entitled to hold dual citizenship.

However, she previously sought to deny that she is Bangladeshi. In 2017, when asked whether she would intervene in the case of a British-trained barrister imprisoned in the country, she said: “Are you calling me Bangladeshi? “Because I am British, be very careful what you’re saying because I’m a British MP. I am not Bangladeshi.”

Ms Siddiq is on trial in absentia in Bangladesh accused of having influenced her aunt to secure plots of land for her mother, brother and sister. She vehemently denies any impropriety, describing the case against her as “persecution and a farce”.