Tan Dhesi was sworn in as Slough’s MP this week for the third time – saying that now ‘the hard work resumes’ after his election campaign.

After being officially sworn in at parliament on Wednesday, July 10, he thanked people in Slough for electing him. Mr Dhesi said: “People have once more kindly instilled their faith in me, and I intend (as usual) to fully repay that trust by being a strong voice for Slough, speaking up for all.”

Mr Dhesi is one of the few MPs in Berkshire not to be new to the job. We’ve introduced the new MPs for Windsor and Maidenhead. Now – for those who don’t know him already – here’s an introduction to Labour’s Tan Dhesi.

Mr Dhesi was born in Slough and spent his very young years living in Chalvey. But he spent his primary school years at school in the Punjab in India before returning to the UK.

READ MORE: Slough general election - the full results

He’s lived in other parts of the UK too before returning to Slough. Mr Dhesi ran his own construction company in Scotland, and was also a borough and county councillor in the town of Gravesend in Kent, between 2007 and 2019.

He stood to be Gravesend’s MP in 2015 coming second – but was then elected as Slough’s MP in the 2017 snap general election.

Despite this, he carried on as a councillor in Gravesend, 60 miles away until 2019 – eventually stepping down from Kent County Council two years after becoming Slough’s MP.

At the time, Mr Dhesi said he’d decided it was best to wait for a new round of council elections in Gravesham rather than trigger a by-election for a single council seat.

Mr Dhesi was the first Sikh MP to wear a turban in parliament. And he’s proud to have demanded an apology in 2019 from the then-prime minister Boris Johonson for writing that Muslim women who wear the veil ‘look like letter boxes.’

London mayor Sadiq Khan says Mr Dhesi pushed him to make sure the Elizabeth Line stopped in Slough. And Mr Dhesi says he and his team have solved more than 5,000 problems brought to him by Slough residents this year alone.

READ MORE: Azhar Chohan says he is ‘not going away’ after coming second in Slough

But he’s faced a mounting challenge in recent months. He was criticised for abstaining on a vote in parliament last November calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza war – though he later backed one in February this year.

The number of people voting for him has fallen greatly. In 2017 he was elected with 34,170 votes. But this fell to 29,421 in 2017 and again to 14,666 in 2024.

With ten other contenders, and lower turnout, Mr Dhesi faced his strongest challenge yet from Independent Network candidate Azhar Chohan, who came a strong second.

Mr Chohan said after the election that his campaign is ‘only the start of something very special.’ It suggests that while Mr Dhesi is looking forward to getting back to work, he might also face extra challenges.