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Tan Dhesi

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Tan Dhesi
MP
ਤਨਮਨਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਢੇਸੀ
Official portrait, 2020
Chair of the Defence Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office
11 September 2024
Preceded byJeremy Quin
Member of Parliament
for Slough
Incumbent
Assumed office
8 June 2017
Preceded byFiona Mactaggart
Majority3,647 (8.4%)
Member of Kent County Council
for Northfleet and Gravesend West
In office
4 May 2017 – 12 March 2019
Succeeded byJohn Burden
Member of Gravesham Borough Council
for Northfleet North
In office
3 May 2007 – 7 May 2015
Personal details
Born (1978-08-17) 17 August 1978 (age 46)
Slough, Berkshire, England
Political partyLabour
Alma materUniversity College London (BSc)
Keble College, Oxford (MSc)
Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge (MPhil)
WebsiteOfficial website

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Punjabi: ਤਨਮਨਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਢੇਸੀ; born 17 August 1978), commonly known as Tan Dhesi, is a British Labour Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Slough since 2017.

Early life and career

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Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi was born on 17 August 1978 in Slough to Indian immigrants.[1] He spent his early years in Chalvey.[2][3] He is the son of Jaspal Singh Dhesi, who runs a construction company in the UK, and the former president of Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara, in Gravesend, which is the largest gurdwara in the UK.[4]

Dhesi received most of his primary education in Punjab, before returning to the UK at the age of 9.[5] He has a bachelor's degree in mathematics with Management Studies from University College London, studied Applied Statistics at Keble College, Oxford, and has a Master of Philosophy in the History and Politics of South Asia from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.[4]

Following in his father's footsteps, Dhesi worked in construction for much of his life, running his own construction company in Scotland.[5] He served as Director for Dhesi Construction Limited which became insolvent as records show on Companies House from July 2002 to January 2007 and DGP Logistics PLC from October 2005 to April 2011.[6]

Local government career

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Dhesi represented Northfleet North on Gravesham Borough Council from 2007 to 2015, and was Mayor of Gravesham from 2011 to 2012.[7][8] He was elected represent Northfleet and Gravesham West on Kent County Council in 2017, serving alongside Lauren Sullivan until his resignation in 2019.[9]

Other voluntary roles whilst serving as a councillor include as school governor at two schools, a trustee with Alzheimer and Dementia Support Services, an advisor and member of Mencap and a member of the Independent Police Advisory Group to Kent Police.[5][7]

Parliamentary career

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At the 2015 general election, Dhesi stood as the Labour candidate in Gravesham, coming second with 30.1% of the vote behind the incumbent Conservative MP Adam Holloway.[10][11]

Dhesi was elected to Parliament at the snap 2017 general election as MP for Slough with 62.9% of the vote and a majority of 16,998.[12][13] He became the UK's first turbaned MP.[14] Dhesi gave his maiden speech in the House of Commons in July 2017.[15][16]

Dhesi served on the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee from July 2018 until the dissolution of the 57th Parliament of the United Kingdom on 6 November 2019.[17]

At the 2019 general election, Dhesi was re-elected as MP for Slough with a decreased vote share of 57.6% and a decreased majority of 13,640.[18]

Dhesi was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, in January 2020. He supported Lisa Nandy in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.[19]

Dhesi briefly served on the Defence Committee from March until May 2020, when he was appointed Shadow Railways Minister after Keir Starmer became Opposition Leader. He was Shadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury from September to November 2023, and Shadow Exports Minister from November 2023 until the July 2024 general election.[20]

In 2021, Dhesi was accused of attempting to hire volunteers for long term work without pay with the job being posted on the Working For an MP website. It was claimed that the posting of the job was an administrative error and that Dhesi himself was unaware of its existence, but he declined to comment to the HuffPost to confirm this.[21]

At the 2024 general election, Dhesi was again re-elected with a decreased vote share of 33.9% and a decreased majority of 3,647.[22]

Personal life

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In 2012, his mother, Dalwinder Kaur Dhesi, was jailed in India, accused of kidnapping and forcing an abortion on a teenage mother, who later died.[23][24] The conviction was criticised by many commentators for being politically motivated, and an appeal was filed by Dalwinder in the immediate aftermath of the decision. In 2018, a double bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court upheld this appeal. All charges against her were subsequently dropped.[25]

Dhesi is familiar with eight languages and is fluent in Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, French and English. He also has a working knowledge of German, Italian and Latin.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "Members' Names Data Platform query". UK Parliament. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  2. ^ "Drugs Policy – Hansard". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  3. ^ "Tan Dhesi MP". Labour South East. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  4. ^ a b Singh, I P (30 April 2017). "Dhesi is Labour candidate from Slough". Times of India. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  5. ^ a b c d "Tan Dhesi MP". Labour South East. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  6. ^ "Tanmanjeet Singh DHESI personal appointments - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  7. ^ a b "About". Tan Dhesi. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  8. ^ Mistry, Rahul. "The Mayor". Gravesham Borough Council. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  9. ^ Dhesi, Tanmanjeet Singh (18 March 2019). "The Register of Members' Financial Interests". UK Parliament.
  10. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  11. ^ "GRAVESHAM 2015". electionresults.blogspot.co.uk.
  12. ^ "General election 2017: Slough candidates formally announced as deadline passes". Slough Observer. 12 May 2017.
  13. ^ "Slough parliamentary constituency – Election 2017" – via bbc.co.uk.
  14. ^ "How Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Became UK's First Turbaned Member Of Parliament". Huffington Post India. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  15. ^ Basu, Indrani (9 June 2017). "How Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Became UK's First Turbaned Sikh Member Of Parliament". Huffington Post India. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  16. ^ Matthews, Luke (18 July 2017). "Slough MP Tan Dhesi praised for maiden speech in parliament". Slough Express. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  17. ^ "Parliamentary career for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament". members.parliament.uk. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  18. ^ "Slough Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  19. ^ "Here are the 23 MPs backing Wigan's Lisa Nandy in the Labour Party leadership contest". www.wigantoday.net. 10 January 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  20. ^ Belger, Tom (5 September 2023). "Labour reshuffle: Starmer unveils six new shadow ministers of state". LabourList. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
  21. ^ "Labour Shadow Minister Tried To Recruit Unpaid Volunteers To Work In His Office "Long Term"". HuffPost UK. 29 April 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  22. ^ "Slough Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  23. ^ "Mayor of Gravesham embroiled in mother's jailing for kidnap". Kentonline.co.uk. 12 April 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  24. ^ "UK polls: Harpreet Kaur case convict's son in fray | chandigarh". Hindustan Times. 22 April 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  25. ^ "yespunjab". 4 December 2018. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Slough
2017–present 		Incumbent
Preceded by Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition
2020 		Succeeded by
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