Tasmina Ahmed Sheikh

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; her father, of Pakistani origin, was the first councillor of Asian background elected in Scotland—in 1986 for the New Town/Stockbridge ward on Lothian Regional Council, representing the Conservative Party. 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).

Career

After graduating in law, whilst on honeymoon in Pakistan she decided to try acting. Playing parts in drama serials, she starred in the Pakistani drama series Des Pardes and also appeared in The Castle: Aik Umeed. These led to a series of local modelling shoots, and starring in a music video for the song Aansoo sung by Ali Azmat.

However, she decided to concentrate on her legal career, her family and politics. She is 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. She speaks English, French and Urdu.

Political career

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

In 2000, she resigned from the Conservatives in response to William Hague's "right wing" pronouncements on asylum seekers. She briefly joined the Labour Party before declaring that she would join the Scottish National Party, and was welcomed as a 'defector'. Salmond said he was "glad she had joined the party".

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

In May 2014 she was the third candidate on the SNP's list for the European Parliament election, but was unsuccessful in winning a seat.

In the 2015 general election she 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. However she lost the seat at the following 2017 general election to Luke Graham of the Conservative party.

Charity work

Ahmed-Sheikh is the founder and chair of the Scottish Asian Women's Association (SAWA). The official launch of SAWA was on 19 April 2012 and the Scottish government provided support at a launch event at Stirling Castle, to the equivalent of around £16,000. Ahmed-Sheikh resigned as a trustee of SAWA after her election as a MP in 2015.

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. It was reported in May 2017, that the Law Society of Scotland is investigating "administrative matters" which relate her period as a solicitor and alleged "financial impropriety involving a trust fund set up to help a vulnerable person". Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish first minister and SNP leader, is standing by Ahmed-Sheikh who has faced calls for her to be suspended from the party.

Personal life

A Muslim, Ahmed-Sheikh is married to Zulfiqar Sheikh and they have four children—Elysée, Saif, Shonzay, Veneezay. 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.