Sir Keir Starmer met a senior member of Bangladesh’s ousted ruling party last month, even as the Awami League faces accusations of looting and of allowing its security forces to kill protesters. .

The UK prime minister met Anwaruzzaman Chowdhury, the ousted mayor of Sylhet city and a key party figure, at a dinner hosted by Labor at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow in December. The couple were pictured chatting at a black-tie event held for Labor party supporters.

The meeting was the culmination of decades of bridge building between the Awami League and Labor that helped the UK party win key parliamentary seats and make inroads into Britain’s Bangladeshi community.

However, allegations of corruption leveled against some members of the former ruling family of Bangladesh have reached Starmer’s under-pressure City minister, Tulip Siddiqand raises questions about the wisdom of the long-established relationship between the two parties.

The Awami League – led by Siddiq’s aunt Sheikh Hasina – ruled the south Asian country for 16 years before that fell in a student-led protest last summer.

Hundreds of people in Bangladesh died over the summer as police and supporters of Sheikh Hasina clashed with protesters. Regime-aligned forces have been accused of using disproportionate force against civilians, including firing live ammunition.

Siddiq was named in an investigation last month by Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission amid allegations that his family took $5bn from a nuclear power plant project. The family has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

Earlier this week, Siddiq also targeted himself with the government’s ethics watchdog after the Financial Times revealed he had been given a £195,000 property in London’s King’s Cross by a man linked to the Awami League.

Social media posts reveal that Labor has outgrown the Awami League over the years, including receiving endorsements from elected Bangladeshi politicians.

Starmer was pictured accepting a donation check for Labor from a man with links to the Awami League, while he and Sadiq Khan, the Labor mayor of London, were photographed meeting key figures, including Chowdhury.

Khan posted on Facebook that it was a “true honor” to meet Chowdhury in May, after he received an endorsement from him ahead of the capital’s mayoral election. During the meeting, Chowdhury said that he has been campaigning for Khan for more than a decade.

Chowdhury did not respond to a request for comment.

The relationship also helped Labor reach out to Britain’s Bangladeshi community ahead of the general election. FT analysis of election data suggests there are at least 17 parliamentary seats where the Bangladeshi population of voting age is greater than the majority Labor won in July.

Starmer’s own seat of Holborn and St Pancras – which he won with a majority of almost 11,000 last summer – has more than 6,000 voting-age residents of Bangladeshi origin.

Awami League supporters campaigned across the country for Labor in last year’s general election, appearing at events in Lancashire and Greater Manchester and accompanying Siddiq on campaign tours, according to social media posts and people with knowledge of events.

A Labor official told the FT that the “infiltration” of the community was partly driven by the association between Siddiq and his former ruling family in Bangladesh.

His grandfather, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, helped lead the country to independence from Pakistan in 1971 before being assassinated four years later along with most of his family. Only Siddiq’s mother, Sheikh Rehana, and his aunt survived.

“Siddiq’s family is the Kennedys of Bangladeshi politics,” the official said.

Sheikh Hasina, who is seeking her fourth term in office in 2023 amid allegations of vote fraud, has long been seen as a secular force against Islamist politics in the region. But the regime has been accused of siphoning funds from the country’s banks, and using detention without pay to silence dissidents.

Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal on Monday issued arrest warrants for Sheikh Hasina and 11 of her top officials for their alleged role in the enforced disappearances.

Chris Hopkins, director of political research at pollster Savanta, said Labor was more dependent on the diaspora vote than its political rivals – forcing it to form alliances to reach certain communities.

“It may not be front of mind in the Westminster bubble, but it is front of mind for these communities and rightly or wrongly Labor will be guilty by association,” Hopkins added.

A grassroots organization Labor Friends of Bangladesh – which was founded in 2005 but became more closely linked to the Awami League – also played a prominent role in coordinating Labor’s campaign efforts.

“In the last few years (Labor Friends of Bangladesh) has been used a lot for promoting the Awami League,” said Ohid Ahmed, a former member of the League’s main political rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which founded the grassroots group but left Labor in 2010. “I don’t think anyone from the other side or who believes in other political parties . . . even attended their meetings.”

Howard Dawber, chair of Labor Friends of Bangladesh since 2010 and the deputy mayor of London, said the organization has supporters from all parties and “works hard not to get carried away by Bangladeshi politics”. He added: “It’s a tough tightrope to walk.”

Now, Labour’s use of the Awami League party as a channel to reach out to the minority community may be forced to change.

“Labour has historically understood that the Awami League is a good vehicle to get votes, but despite many changes because it holds the wrong view that it still commands the support of the community,” Ashraf said. Hoque, an associate professor of social anthropology at University College London.

As well as diminishing the Awami League’s standing, treating British-Bangladeshi voters as a bloc feeds unhelpful narratives about the community, he added. “This is an unworkable part of Labor politics.”

Labor said: “The UK and Bangladesh have a long-standing relationship in areas of mutual interest such as trade and security. It is perfectly legitimate for politicians to meet others from around the world, as do MPs from all Again, this does not amount to an endorsement of their policies.

Additional reporting by Oliver Hawkins