Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Punjabi: ਤਨਮਨਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਢੇਸੀ; born 17 August 1978), commonly known as Tan Dhesi, is a British Labour politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Slough since 2017.[2]
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi was born on 17 August 1978 in Slough to Indian immigrants, and spent his early years in Chalvey.[3][4] 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.[5]
Following in his father's footsteps, Dhesi worked in construction for much of his life, running his own construction company in Scotland.[6] 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.[7]
Political career
Dhesi was first elected as a councillor to Gravesham Borough Council in 2007. He later went on to become the Mayor of Gravesham between 2011 and 2012.[8][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.[6][8]
Dhesi continued working as a Councillor for Kent County Council and as a consultant for DGP Logistics for almost 2 years after being elected as an MP.[10]
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]
In March 2020, Dhesi became a member of the Defence Select Committee.[17] He stepped down from the committee in May 2020 following his appointment ⁹as Shadow Minister for Railways.
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, however he declined to comment to the HuffPost to confirm this.[20]
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
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.[6]