Assembly Speaker, 17 October
Tulip Siddiq - Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury and the MP for Hampstead and Kilburn
The week before half term, Tulip Siddiq was our Sixth Form Assembly Speaker. She is Shadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury and the MP for Hampstead and Kilburn. She was previously Camden Councillor for Regent’s Park.
Born and raised in London, Tulip’s interest in politics stemmed from an experience as a young girl. At the age of 5, living in Singapore, her father had a stroke and Tulip vividly recalled overhearing anxious conversations about treatment costs and procedural information. Coming to the UK, and finding out about the NHS, she realised the value of public services and started her journey into the Labour Party. Her desire to become an MP was founded on the overall values of social justice and supporting public services.
As a politician, she expressed that there is no need to agree with every single policy in the party you are in. The same way it is not necessary to like all the songs of a band you’re into or like all the players in a sports team. There is always space to disagree. However, she touched upon the conflict between rebelling against your party for your own values and staying quiet in the hopes for a promotion. Following the vote to trigger Article 50, she decided to prioritise the wishes of her constituents and rebel against the party whip, causing her to lose her job as a shadow minister on the front bench. Perhaps the final decision is up to the individual and when you put your constituency first, there’s no room for regret.
In Parliament, it is certainly ‘hard to affect change in opposition’. With the Conservatives having 80 more seats, this massive difference makes it feel impossible for Siddiq’s party to change legislation and make a difference which is what she became a politician for. Her most relevant example of this struggle can be seen in the detainment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
At a stressful moment in her own private life - she had just had an emergency C-section at the Royal Free hospital- Siddiq received a call from Richard Ratcliffe, Nazanin’s husband. Nazanin was being charged with espionage in Iran. After travelling to Iran with her 18 month old child, Nazanin had become unreachable. Richard made enquiries at the Foreign Office and was told to not campaign or else she would be in danger or worse, not ever return. Ignoring this advice, Siddiq then followed Richard’s wishes and asked over 400 questions in parliament to get her out. It became known that the situation was caused by the UK’s £400 million historic debt to Iran. After 6 years of fighting against the government and Parliament paying the money back, Nazanin was freed. Siddiq involves herself in the small causes and occasionally big causes like these.
Some people asked about Truss to which she responded that we should not underestimate a politician’s greed for power, though ‘we already knew the answer to that’. She herself does not want to be PM so she can have a life with her two children. She added, with some sadness, that she didn’t believe the country was ready for a woman of colour to be PM, but offered some optimism that, hopefully when we are her age, this will be possible.
Responding to questions on Keir Starmer and his readiness to be PM, Siddiq believes that he has the qualities (capable, intelligent etc) to be PM. She says that the people have started to see with Boris Johnson that voting for personalities is not the way to go. The people want someone who wants the best for the country and who has the qualities to lead. She suggested that the shift away from populist leaders and the cult of ‘personality’ in favour of competence could be because real-world issues are affecting more and more people, not just those at the lowest end of the socio-economic spectrum.
Some people asked about a potential coalition with the SNP and Starmer has made it obvious that the answer is no, because of the fundamental difference of opinion on the state of the union. Coalition requires compromise and Siddiq does not agree with it.
Responding to a question about how she manages the different needs of her constituents, given that Hampstead and Kilburn encapsulates a wide variety of socio-economic need, she’s realised that accessibility is a problem. Those that need her help have more trouble asking for it. A balance is made by looking at postcodes and doing zoom surgeries. Previously, she offered in-person surgeries at a Kilburn mosque to try and reach the Muslim community, which she hopes to start up again.
With a Bangladeshi origin, she made comparisons between voting culture in the UK and there. In Bangladesh, the people are more aware that whoever is in power can change their lives drastically. In the UK, not so much. Politicians act to protect their ballot vote. Siddiq has an aim to make politics more relatable so that young people aren’t put off by ‘party politics’. As a young person, I feel this is true. The jargon for one can be really off-putting. I hope that Siddiq can make young people like me feel that going into politics is possible.
It was clear to me that everyone enjoyed the assembly. Engaging and hopeful, we’d love to have her back!
Ella
Senior Prefect
