Halima Khan on Palestine, Labour and George Galloway’s comments about gay people
As part of The Slice Tower Hamlets’ coverage of the 2024 general election, we interview Halima Khan, Workers Party of Britain candidate for Stratford and Bow.
Halima Khan is the Workers Party of Britain (WPB) candidate for Stratford and Bow. We spoke to her about Palestine, the UK’s involvement with Ukraine’s war effort, Labour and more.
Khan grew up in Oxford and attended a school in Witney when David Cameron was MP of the constituency. She moved schools halfway through her secondary education after ‘facing racism from both students and teachers,’ which she says was disruptive to her studies and well-being.
Finding mental health services inadequate, she turned to music and art to help her cope with depression and anxiety. At 24 years old, she completed a degree in cognitive neuroscience at the University of Westminster, supporting her studies through work in retail, hospitality and the film industry.
As a student, Khan joined the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), but distanced herself because of what she calls an ‘unsafe environment for women, especially women of colour, and its history of sexual harassment’.
She worked in NHS England health & justice commissioning, adult social care, and as a community engagement officer at Oxford Brookes University. In these roles, Khan observed ‘institutional issues,’ fuelling her ‘curiosity about state functioning’. In 2019, she began working for the Labour Party as an investigations and governance officer.
About her time working for Labour, Khan said: ‘I realised the establishment relies on apathy to win, insulating decision-making from democratic control.
‘After the 2019 election defeat, I believed in participating through membership for change. Under Starmer’s leadership, however, the party undermined members as well as staff advocating for real change.’
Calling herself a ‘whistleblower of the Labour Party,’ she appeared on Al Jazeera’s ‘Labour Files’ about her experiences working for the party’s disciplinary team between 2019 and 2021.
For Khan, George Galloway, the leader of the WPD, and the party itself ‘are the only political forces supporting whistleblowers and the working class’.
We spoke to Khan about her campaign to become an MP in Stratford and Bow.
For more of our general election coverage, watch our interview with Uma Kumaran, Labour Party candidate for Stratford and Bow
The Workers Party along with Reform are a serious threat to the main parties in Tower Hamlets/Newham
I would request Halima Khan to distribute the election campaign flyers to and near Donald Hunter House and in every flat of the house. This would benifit her campaign.