❓WHAT HAPPENED: Bangladesh’s High Commissioner (Ambassador) to the United Kingdom has said that much of London feels like Bangladesh.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Bangladeshi High Commissioner Abida Islam; residents of London.
📍WHEN & WHERE: London, United Kingdom; August 2025.
💬KEY QUOTE: “So much of London—especially east London—feels like Bangladesh. I’m looking forward next year to iftar in Trafalgar Square.” – Abida Islam
🎯IMPACT: The comments underscore London’s radically changing demographics, with minority groups taking over certain areas to the extent that they no longer feel alien to politicians from their ethnic homelands.
Bangladesh’s High Commissioner (Ambassador) to the United Kingdom, Abida Islam, has drawn attention to London’s radical cultural and demographic shifts. Speaking to the establishment Financial Times for an article titled, ‘Where ambassadors to the UK dine in London for tastes of home,’ she said: “I’m fortunate. When I was posted in Mexico and South Korea, my homesickness was worse and hit hardest at mealtimes. But so much of London—especially east London—feels like Bangladesh.”
The diplomat added that she was “looking forward next year to iftar in Trafalgar Square,” in reference to the annual Islamic fast-breaking feasts championed by Mayor Sadiq Khan in the British capital’s most iconic public square.
Islam’s remarks come as London continues to transform under the weight of decades of mass migration, accelerated to record levels by former Conservative (Tory) prime ministers Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, and maintained at historic levels by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer following the election of the Labour Party in mid-2024.
Bangladeshis are particularly dominant in the London borough of Tower Hamlets, one of several areas where the municipal government has been tearing down English flags raised on lampposts and other infrastructure by members of the public. Notably, Tower Hamlets Mayor Luftur Rahman—himself a Bangladeshi immigrant previously ejected from office for electoral fraud but reelected once his ban expired—took a more tolerant approach towards the borough being festooned with Palestinian flags following the Hamas terror attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Other prominent Bangladeshi politicians in England include Prime Minister Starmer’s former Anti-Corruption Minister, Tulip Siddiq, who resigned after the Bangladeshi government began investigating her family for corruption.
Bangladesh’s High Commissioner to UK Abida Islam tells the FT:
“I’m fortunate. When I was posted in Mexico and South Korea, my homesickness was worse and hit hardest at mealtimes. But so much of London — especially east London — feels like Bangladesh.”
Well. pic.twitter.com/iHqEboubrJ
— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) August 20, 2025
