Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq has resigned, after growing pressure about allegations of corruption linked to her aunt, the deposed prime minister of Bangladesh.
The Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, who, like Keir Starmer, was first elected in 2015, had referred herself to the prime minister’s standards adviser, Laurie Magnus, and insisted she had done nothing wrong.
But, while Magnus did say he had “not identified evidence of improprieties”, he concluded that it was “regrettable” that she was not “more alert to the potential reputational risks – both to her and the government – arising from her family’s association with Bangladesh”. In her subsequent resignation letter, Siddiq said continuing in her role was “likely to be a distraction” for the government.
What are the allegations?
Siddiq finds herself at the centre of controversy because of allegations about her family’s financial dealings in Bangladesh. She has been “named in an investigation into claims her family embezzled as much as £3.9 billion from infrastructure projects” in the country, said the BBC.
The investigations centre on Siddiq’s aunt, Sheikh Hasina, the former Bangladeshi prime minister, who went into exile last year after being ousted from power in a student uprising.
Documents, seen by the BBC, show Siddiq has been accused of “helping to broker a deal with Russia in 2013” that significantly inflated the cost of a nuclear-power plant project in Bangladesh. Siddiq told Magnus her visit to Russia was “solely for the purpose of joining family and enjoying tourist access to the city”.
Just ahead of her resignation, Saddiq was named in a second investigation in Bangladesh, said The Times, this time “over the alleged procurement of land for her family under her aunt’s former regime”.
The Labour MP had also come under scrutiny for her use of three London properties connected to members of her aunt’s Awami League party. Siddiq had originally said one of the properties, in King’s Cross, had been given to her by her parents but was “forced to correct the record when she became a minister” and declare that it was paid for by an associate of the Awami League, said The Times.
What was Siddiq’s role in government?
Siddiq is not resigning as an MP but she has stepped down from her government job as economic secretary to the Treasury. Her ministerial responsibilities included tackling corruption in financial markets, and it was this element of her role which turbo-boosted the calls for her to step down.
Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch said it was “clear” that “the anti-corruption minister’s position was completely untenable”, said The Guardian. The UK Anti-Corruption Coalition, which includes such organisations as Oxfam, Transparency International and Spotlight on Corruption, said that Siddiq had “a serious conflict of interests” as they also called for her to a step aside from all aspects of her role dealing with economic crime, money-laundering or illegal finance.
What has Siddiq said?
Siddiq has repeatedly denied all the allegations, maintaining that she’d acted with “full transparency” and had no involvement in Bangladeshi politics.
What has Downing Street said?
Downing Street has consistently voiced support for Siddiq and said she acted appropriating in referring herself to the standards adviser. In what the BBC called a “warm” exchange of letters, Starmer said he accepted her resignation with sadness and “the door remains open to you going forward”.
What next?
Siddiq’s resignation marks the second high-profile departure of a senior woman from Starmer’s government over ethics concerns. Last year, Louise Haigh stepped down as transport secretary after it emerged that, before she became an MP, she had been convicted of fraud for falsely reporting a mobile phone as stolen.
In the wake of Siddiq’s exit, Labour MP Emma Reynolds has been named the new Economic Secretary to the Treasury. Reynolds, the MP for Wycombe, had previously been a parliamentary secretary at HM Treasury and the Department of Work and Pensions.