Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh

Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh OBE WS NP (born 5 October 1970) is a Scottish politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ochil and South Perthshire from 2015 to 2017. A former member of the Scottish Conservative party, Labour and the Scottish National Party (SNP), Ahmed-Sheikh served as the SNP's Trade and Investment spokesperson, Deputy Shadow Leader of the House in the House of Commons, and the SNP's National Women's and Equalities Convener. A solicitor and businessperson, and a former actress, Ahmed-Sheikh founded and formerly chaired the Scottish Asian Women's Association.

Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh
OBE WS NP
Ahmed-Sheikh in 2015
SNP Spokesperson for International Trade
In office
20 May 2015 – 9 June 2017
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byHannah Bardell
Member of Parliament
for Ochil and South Perthshire
In office
7 May 2015 – 3 May 2017
Preceded byGordon Banks
Succeeded byLuke Graham
Personal details
Born
Tasmina Andalib Rizvi

(1970-10-05) 5 October 1970
London, England
Political partyAlba
Other political
affiliations		Conservative (1986–2000)
Labour (2000)
SNP (2000–2021)
SpouseZulfikar Sheikh
Children4
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh
University of Strathclyde

After losing her parliamentary seat, Ahmed-Sheikh started working at RT UK on The Alex Salmond Show. In March 2021 she defected from the SNP to the Alba Party and then stood as Alba's top list candidate in Central Scotland at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, but neither she nor her party succeeded in gaining a seat.

Early life and education

Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh was born in Chelsea, London in 1970, and raised in Edinburgh. Her mother is a half-Welsh, half-Czech actress who performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company[1][2] and completed a law degree in her retirement.[3] Her father, Mohammad bin Ashiq Rizvi, MA, LL.B, JP, was born in British India and brought up in Pakistan after Partition. He moved to Britain in 1951, working first as a lecturer in English at the University of London and then as an insurance broker. He was a Conservative politician, serving as councillor on the New Town/Stockbridge division on Lothian Regional Council from 1986 to 1994[4] and standing for Edinburgh Leith in 1992. He was the first Asian Conservative councillor in Scotland.[5]

Ahmed-Sheikh was educated at Craigmount High School, George Heriot's School in Edinburgh, the University of Edinburgh (MA) and the University of Strathclyde (LLB & Postgraduate Diploma in Law).[6] She has a sister who is a London-based barrister.[3]

Acting career

After graduating in law, Ahmed-Sheikh made acting her first career. She starred in the Pakistani drama series Des Pardes. These led to a series of local modelling shoots. She starred in the 2000 drama Aansoo, playing Imaan, the daughter of a mixed-race Scottish-Pakistani couple; the drama was filmed in both countries and was produced by her husband Zulfikar Sheikh. She produced and appeared in The Castle: Aik Umeed (2001).[7]

Ahmed-Sheikh became a partner at the Glasgow law firm Hamilton Burns, specialising in commercial conveyancing and private client work, often with a family law or immigration element.[8]

On 15 January 2019, she was found guilty of professional misconduct by the Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal (SSDT) and fined £3,000.[9] The Tribunal found that Ahmed-Sheikh and fellow solicitor Alan Mickel had shown "disregard for the rules" in running a trust and had a conflict of interest when they borrowed money from it to help their ailing firm.[10] In addition to their fines, the pair also had to pay the expenses of the Law Society of Scotland, which had brought the case forward.[11]

In September 2021, the SSDT found her guilty for a second time when she was ruled to have committed "recklessness by omission" during her tenure as the designated cashroom partner at Hamilton Burns, which went into administration in 2017. Ahmed-Sheikh admitted six other breaches of financial rules too but was cleared of any suggestion of dishonesty or a lack of integrity.[12]

Political career

Ahmed-Sheikh was active in the Scottish Conservatives from the age of 10 and a member from 16.[13] She was chairperson of Edinburgh Central Young Conservatives and deputy spokeswoman for the party on women and family issues and equal opportunities.[14] She stood as the party's candidate in Glasgow Govan in the 1999 Scottish Parliament election,[14] where she came in third place with 2,343 votes (8.88%).

While a Conservative party member she criticised Alex Salmond as "hopelessly out of his depth" and "utterly naive" for his comments condemning NATO's intervention in Kosovo.[15]

In 2000, she resigned from the Conservatives in response to William Hague's "right wing" pronouncements on asylum seekers.[16] She briefly joined the Labour Party before declaring that she would join the Scottish National Party, and was welcomed as a 'defector'. "I am not an opportunist, I have changed political parties - so what?", Ahmed-Sheikh said at the time.[15] Salmond said he was "glad she had joined the party".[15]

In July 2012, she joined the Advisory Board of Yes Scotland, the cross-party campaign for Scottish independence ahead of the upcoming referendum.[17]

In May 2014 she was the third candidate on the SNP's list for the European Parliament election,[18] but did not win a seat.[19]

In the 2015 general election, Ahmed-Sheikh was elected to the UK Parliament in the Ochil and South Perthshire constituency, earning 46% of the vote as the SNP took the seat from Labour incumbent Gordon Banks.[20] She was Scotland's first female Muslim MP.[21] However she lost the seat at the following 2017 general election to Luke Graham of the Conservative Party.[22] During that election campaign, financial allegations emerged, regarding her time as a solicitor; calls were made for her to be suspended from the SNP, but leader Nicola Sturgeon stood by her.[23][24]

In 2019, it was reported the SNP declined her application to stand in the upcoming European Parliament election of that year.[25]

On 31 March 2021, she was unveiled as a candidate for the Alba Party in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, and stood for the party in Central Scotland.[26] She was unsuccessful, as were all the other Alba candidates in the election.

Ahmed-Sheikh's political position is described as centre-right.[27] She supports Scottish republicanism.[28]

Charity work

Ahmed-Sheikh founded and chaired the Scottish Asian Women's Association. It launched on 19 April 2012 at Stirling Castle, with the Scottish government supporting this event, to the equivalent of around £16,000.[29] Ahmed-Sheikh resigned as a trustee of SAWA after her election as an MP in 2015.[30] In January 2016, The Herald reported that during the period Ahmed-Sheikh was chair, only a small proportion (3%) of the SAWA's income had been donated to charitable causes.[30] The charity was wound up in 2018.[31]

She was involved with British Muslim Awards from its inception, presenting the awards at the inaugural ceremony in 2013[32] and in 2014.[33]

She is a trustee of Scottish Women in Sport, a charity founded in 2013.[34]

Awards and honours

She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to business and to the Asian community in Scotland.[35]

Media work

Ahmed-Sheikh is co-owner, along with Alex Salmond, of Slainte Media, a production company behind The Alex Salmond Show, and regularly co-hosted the programme on RT.[36][37] until the channel was closed down in March 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ahmed-Sheikh wrote a column in The National for eight years, signing off in March 2023.[38]

Personal life

A Muslim, Ahmed-Sheikh married Zulfiqar Sheikh in 1991 and they have four children—Elysée, Saif, Shansee and Vaneesee.[39]

References
  1. Brooks, Libby (4 May 1999). "The unlikely lassie". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  2. Mcleod, Kayleigh (6 June 2013). "Bollywood actress hopes to land dream role in European Parliament". STV News. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  3. "Women in the Law: Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh". Scots Asians For YES to an Independent Scotland. 7 February 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  4. "Bollywood actress hopes to land dream role in European Parliament". STV. 6 June 2013. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  5. "Electing to put soap on the ropes Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh has abandoned her acting career in Pakistan to fight for a seat in the Scottish Parliament". HeraldScotland. Herald & Times Group. 23 February 1999. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  6. David Leask (1 June 2015). "Analysis: SNP bucks trend for privately educated MPs". HeraldScotland. Herald & Times Group. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  7. "Pakistani drama serial actress Tasmina Ahmed Sheikh contesting UK election". Ary News. 7 May 2015.
  8. "Scots Asians For YES to an Independent Scotland". Scots Asians 4 Yes. 7 February 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2014 – via Wordpress.
  9. "Ex-SNP MP fined for professional misconduct". BBC News. 15 January 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  10. "Tasmina-Ahmed Sheikh found guilty of professional misconduct". Scottish Legal News. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  11. "Former SNP MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh guilty of professional misconduct". The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. 15 January 2019.
  12. Gordon, Tom (27 September 2021). "Guilty again: second misconduct finding against ex-SNP MP". The Herald. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  13. Britten, Nick (16 June 2000). "Defector to SNP 'is political butterfly'". The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  14. "Tory defects to SNP". BBC News. 14 June 2000. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  15. "Tory defector held Labour card". BBC News. 15 June 2000. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  16. "Tory defector blames Hague". BBC News. 15 June 2000. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  17. "Scottish independence: Yes campaign board announced". BBC News. 8 July 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  18. "Scots likely to vote Yes if they think Tories will win UK election". STV News. 21 April 2014. Archived from the original on 25 April 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  19. Gordon, Tom (14 July 2013). "SNP split over candidates for Euro election". The Herald. Herald & Times Group. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  20. "Ochil & South Perthshire Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  21. "Scotland's first Muslim woman MP aims to represent all Muslims in UK". Daily Sabah. Istanbul. Anadolu Agency. 2 May 2015. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  22. "Conservative Luke Graham takes the seat for Ochil and South Perthshire". Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser. 9 June 2017.
  23. Gourtsoyannis, Paris (17 May 2017). "Nicola Sturgeon backs under fire Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh". The Scotsman. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  24. Cramb, Auslan (17 May 2017). "Nicola Sturgeon backs Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh amid renewed calls for her suspension". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  25. Andrews, Kieran (20 April 2019). "Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh's bid to run in European elections is rejected". The Times. Times Newspapers.
  26. Grant, Alistair (31 March 2021). "Alba Party unveils full list of candidates, including ex-MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh". The Herald.
  27. Kutchinsky, Serena (18 June 2015). "The SNP has a right wing - and here she is". Prospect Magazine.
  28. Ahmed-Sheikh, Tasmina (4 January 2023). "Scots must detach themselves from the Royal Family soap opera". The National. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  29. Gordon, Tom (2 May 2013). "Claims of SNP cronyism after charity handed public support". The Herald. Herald & Times Group. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  30. Gordon, Tom (13 January 2016). "SNP MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh facing questions after charity she founded donates less than 3% of income to good causes". The Herald. Herald & Times Group. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  31. Gordon, Tom (22 March 2018). "Charity founded by prominent SNP activist to be wound up". The Herald. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  32. "Winners announced at the Inaugural British Muslim Awards | Asian Sunday Newspaper". 31 January 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  33. "British Muslim Awards 2014 winners". Asian Image. 31 January 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  34. "SW/S Trustees – Scottish Women in Sport". Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  35. "New Year Honours 2014: list in full". The Daily Telegraph. 30 December 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  36. "Slainte Media Limited". Open Corporates. 25 October 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  37. Nicola Sturgeon questions Alex Salmond's choice of Russian TV channel BBC News, 10 November 2017 Archived from the original on 11 November 2017; Retrieved 11 November 2017
  38. "Northern Ireland Protocol deal shows Scotland can have the 'best of both worlds'". The National. March 2023.
  39. Johnston, Clare (2 July 2013). "Bollywood star and SNP political hopeful Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh reveals joys of Ramadan fasting". Daily Record. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
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