A Labour MP has apologised over disturbing comments she made to a pregnant TV producer who asked her about human rights.
Tulip Siddiq, Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, told pregnant Channel 4 News journalist Daisy Ayliffe: ‘Hope you have a great birth because child labour is hard.’
Ms Siddiq and her team turned on Channel 4 News reporter Alex Thomson, their cameraman and Ms Ayliffe after they tried to ask her about the case of Ahmad Bin Quasem, a lawyer who was detained in Bangladesh.
Ms Siddiq, a British-born MP who is the niece of Bangladesh’s Prime Minister, was asked to look into the case of a lawyer who went missing in the country
Channel 4 has complained to the Labour Party over these comments she made to a producer
British-born Ms Siddiq is the niece of Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and it has been suggested she may be able to help Mr Bin Quasem’s family after he was seized by the country’s security forces last year.
But when the TV news crew asked Ms Siddiq about the issue, she told Mr Thomson: ‘Are you aware I’m a British MP and that I’m born in London?
‘Are you implying I’m a Bangladeshi politician? Because I don’t think that’s the right thing to imply. You need to be very careful.’
The crew’s camera was then covered up by a member of Ms Siddiq’s team as she was whisked away.
When pregnant Ms Ayliffe tried to ask her further questions, Ms Siddiq told her: ‘Hope you have a great birth because child labour is hard.’
Channel 4 News said it has complained to the MP and the Labour party over the comments.
Channel 4 News’s editor Ben de Pear tweeted last night that the show had complained. He claimed Ms Siddiq had gone to the police after its journalists tried to question her
The show’s editor Ben De Pear tweeted: ‘Today I complained to @TulipSiddiq & @UKLabour about her comments to our pregnant producer… We had asked if she could use her family connection to look into freeing a man in Bangladesh.
He added: ‘Tonight she responded that she has complained to the police about @Channel4News. No apology.’
Mr Bin Quasem, known to his friends as Arman, is a British-trained Bangladeshi barrister said to have been taken away by the Bangladeshi security services in front of his wife, sister and two young daughters.
His family say they have written to Ms Siddiq asking for her help in finding out what happened to him and attempting to get him freed.
Ms Saddiq has been instrumental in putting pressure on the government over Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe, the British mother and constituent of Ms Saddiq’s who is in jail in Iran. She appeared to be unaware of Mr Bin Quasem’s case.