Tulip gets Labour ticket for 2015 elections

Tulip Siddiq, daughter of Sheikh Rehana, will run for British Parliament in 2015 general elections.

The Labour Party nominated her for the high-profile Hampstead and Kilburn constituency from a women-only shortlist through a local election on Monday.

The granddaughter of Bangladesh’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman has been a Cabinet member in central London’s Camden borough council since she won the Regent Park seat as a councillor in 2010.

Tulip pipped two other competitors – another Camden Councillor Sally Gimson and Deputy Mayor of Hackney Borough Sophie Linden – to the nomination for Britain’s general elections.

The niece of Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be pitted against Conservative Party nominee, Hampstead Town Councillor Simon Marcus in the constituency, a key battleground if Conservatives are to form a national government without the need for coalition.

In February, the Liberal Democrat’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) Emily Frith resigned just a month after she was picked. The party has yet to announce a replacement.

Tulip was leading the race to replace former Oscar-winning actress actress Glade Jackson. In January, Jackson confirmed she would not be standing for the seat again. Representing the seat since 1992, she held the seat by just 42 votes in 2010 in a three-way contest with the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.

Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock backed Tulip to be the party’s candidate for the parliamentary seat. Lord Kinnock described her as “energetic, conscientious and highly intelligent”, while Labour MP Angela Eagle said she would be a “valuable asset” in Parliament.

Tulip, who represents Regent’s Park ward, threw her hat into the ring, having been the only one among the contenders to put in efforts for Labour leader Ed Miliband during the party chief’s elections in 2010.

Daughter of Shafiq Siddiq and Rehana, she is the first Bengali woman to have been elected in 2010 Councillor of Camden, one of London’s most diverse boroughs.

Born in the UK but having spent her childhood in seven different countries, Tulip studied English literature for her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree at the University College of London. She did a second Master’s in Politics, Policy and Government before pursuing a career in British politics.

Recently, she married a Briton, Christian Percy, who is a strategy consultant, with a background in the British civil service.

Tulip in UK elections race