Local politics usually revolves around bins, potholes, and planning rows — not international flights.
But that’s exactly where this story begins.
A Tower Hamlets councillor has come under fire after it emerged she has been earning more than £20,000 a year in public money while spending most of her time thousands of miles away, living in Bangladesh.
Who Is Sabina Khan and Where Has She Been?
Sabina Khan was elected as a councillor in Tower Hamlets, east London, but for roughly the past eight months she has largely been based in Sylhet, Bangladesh — around 5,000 miles from the borough she represents.
Despite the distance, she has remained officially in post and plans to stay on until the local elections in May, when she intends to step down.
Originally elected as a Labour councillor, Khan later defected to the Aspire Party in a move that helped hand the party overall control of Tower Hamlets Council.
How Much Is She Being Paid?
Tower Hamlets has confirmed that Khan earns £11,898 a year as a councillor.
On top of that, she receives an extra £8,702 annually for her role as Scrutiny Lead for Resources — a position that involves closely examining council spending.
Altogether, that adds up to £20,600 a year in taxpayer-funded allowances, even though she has been living primarily in Asia since May last year.
Dialling In From Abroad — Or Not Turning Up at All
Since travelling to Bangladesh, Khan is understood to have attended most council and committee meetings remotely.
When she hasn’t logged in online, she has sometimes sent a proxy to sit in for her — and in other cases, missed meetings altogether.
According to council insiders, when she does appear on video calls, her location is obvious.
One source described seeing her join meetings from her balcony in Bangladesh, calling the situation “staggering” and branding it an outright scandal.
A Political Ambition Beyond the UK
Khan’s extended stay in Bangladesh appears to be driven by her ambition to become a Member of Parliament there.
She has family connections to the country and has been campaigning to be selected as a parliamentary candidate for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
She was not alone in that effort.
Fellow Tower Hamlets councillor Ohid Ahmed also travelled to Bangladesh to seek selection as a BNP MP — something that is legal under UK electoral rules.
Ahmed has since returned to London and resumed his council duties after failing to secure a spot in the first round of selections.
Khan, however, is still hoping to make a second shortlist for women and minority candidates and has continued campaigning in the Sylhet region.
Campaign Videos and a Jarring Contrast
Videos shared on Khan’s social media accounts show her speaking at BNP rallies, leafleting, and addressing crowds throughout December and January ahead of Bangladesh’s February 12 general election.
In some clips, she complains about rising gas prices and poor road conditions in Bangladesh.
Critics in Tower Hamlets have pointed out the irony: her £20,600 annual UK allowance is more than ten times the average yearly wage in Bangladesh, estimated at £1,961 — a gap comparable to someone earning around £390,000 a year in Britain.
While still receiving UK taxpayers’ money, she has also criticised the Bangladeshi government, saying public funds there were “the hard-earned money of the people.”
Fury From Inside Tower Hamlets
Anger over the situation has spilled out within the council.
One councillor said it was unfair to residents and fellow councillors, arguing that serious casework simply cannot be handled from abroad.
They described Tower Hamlets residents arriving with deeply personal and distressing problems, insisting that meaningful support requires face-to-face engagement — not Microsoft Teams calls from another continent.
Communities Secretary Steve Reed also weighed in, saying he was “appalled” that Khan would abandon her local responsibilities at a time when Tower Hamlets has been dealing with a string of fraud scandals.
Did She Resign — Or Not?
Last November, Khan said she had stepped down from her Tower Hamlets role to “dedicate myself fully to public service in Bangladesh,” claiming both Aspire and the council’s monitoring officer had accepted her resignation.
But that account quickly unravelled.
Tower Hamlets later confirmed it had never received a formal resignation, and Khan subsequently appeared at a one-off council meeting later that same month.
Speaking to Bangladesh’s The Daily Star, she maintained that her actions were lawful, insisting that UK law allows councillors to engage in political activity abroad and that she had continued serving constituents remotely.
A History of Residency Questions
This is not the first time Khan’s living arrangements have raised eyebrows.
She previously served as a Labour councillor in Brent, west London, where she was criticised for not living in the borough she represented.
After being elected in Tower Hamlets in 2022, her defection to Aspire in November 2024 — alongside another councillor — proved controversial and politically decisive.
A Council With Its Own Troubled Past
The controversy also lands in a borough already dogged by claims of mismanagement and corruption.
Tower Hamlets is run by Mayor Lutfur Rahman, who was banned from public office for five years in 2015 after being found to have won an earlier election using corrupt and illegal practices.
Despite that, he was re-elected mayor in 2022.
Neither Sabina Khan, Ohid Ahmed, nor the Aspire Party responded to requests for comment.
What Happens Now?
With Khan set to remain in post until May, the row raises uncomfortable questions about accountability, representation, and what “serving constituents” really means in an age of remote politics.
For residents of Tower Hamlets, the issue now is whether their councillor can truly represent them from halfway around the world — and whether the rules governing local government are fit for situations like this.
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