Apsana Begum

Apsana Begum is a British Labour politician, born in Shadwell, London, on 25 May 1990, who has been the Member of Parliament for Poplar and Limehouse since 2019. She is the first Member of Parliament in Britain to wear a hijab. ¹

Begum was born in Shadwell, in the East End of London, to Bangladeshi parents, Manir Uddin Ahmed and Syeda Nazma Begum, and has five sisters and a brother. ¹ She graduated in politics from Queen Mary University of London in 2011 and completed a postgraduate diploma in law and community leadership at SOAS in 2012, then worked for Tower Hamlets Council, Tower Hamlets Homes and Queen Mary in equality and diversity roles. ¹ She is the UK's first MP to wear a hijab, and has written of her experience "as someone who has first-hand experience of the rise in Islamophobia" and of how "people of Muslim backgrounds like me face discrimination and prejudice"; no source names a school or order for her. ¹

Begum was elected MP for Poplar and Limehouse at the 2019 general election with 63.1% of the vote, and sits with the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs. ¹ In November 2020 she tabled an early day motion on global Islamophobia and criticised her own party over its handling of Islamophobia. ¹ She had the Labour whip withdrawn in July 2024 after voting to scrap the two-child benefit cap, was re-elected at the 2024 general election, and regained the whip in September 2025. ¹

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