Tulip Siddiq has instructed lawyers Stephenson Harwood to write to the Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission with regard to their multiple investigations and allegations into the MP. Their key points:
This is Siddiq’s first substantial response since her resignation. The lawyers demand questions from the ACC “promptly” and “no later than 25 March 2025” or they “presume that there are no legitimate questions to answer.” In response the ACC has said in a letter that Siddiq had “spent most of her adult life residing in homes owned by cronies of the notoriously venal Awami League” and her “claims to have been unaware of the nature of the Hasina regime.” The ACC says it will be in touch with Siddiq’s lawyers in “due course”…
ACC chairman Mohammad Abdul Momen adds: “All allegations raised against Ms Siddiq will be proven in any court, including the ones in the United Kingdom.” Starmer, meanwhile, has by leaving the door open for Siddiq’s return done “injustice to and defamed the name Kier Hardie, the founder of the Labour Party, from whom his parents had said to have drawn his name. As Britain is a frontrunner of democracy I expect a British Premier to be a role model for the world.” Developments…
Speaking on Times Radio, former Home Secretary David Blunkett spoke about overdiagnosis of mental problems:
“Let’s distinguish those who are really severely mentally ill, diagnosed with things that require prolonged medical and diagnostic treatment. My wife and I talk about this a lot, because she’s a retired GP, about the fact that you can be sad without being ill. You can be momentarily depressed because your boyfriend or girlfriend’s just thrown you and you’re not mentally ill. You can even have mild issues, which can be dealt with with the right kind of support, but it doesn’t make you mentally ill. So we’ve got a real task, I think, to get the psychology, if you like, of this over. But there are things where you definitely need medical intervention, and there are other things where you need good friends, you need good connectivity, and you need a job.”