And now we have it: Tulip Siddiq has resigned from her government post as City minister after pressure piled on the Labour MP over her links to her aunt and former authoritarian premier of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina. After a tumultuous few weeks, the government’s ethics adviser issued his conclusion about Siddiq’s conduct – leading the Treasury minister to quit her job. Dear oh dear…
So how did things get to this point for Siddiq? Well, Mr S has compiled a handy timeline of events to make sense of it all.
18 December 2024
All eyes are drawn to the government’s anti-corruption minister after the Labour MP was named in an, er, corruption probe. Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission has launched an investigation into the lefty politician after she was accused of helping Hasina siphon off large sums of money intended for eight infrastructure projects. Siddiq denies the allegations.
22 December 2024
It emerges that Siddiq has been interviewed by the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team over the allegations she helped her aunt broker a deal with Russia and embezzle up to £3.9 billion from a nuclear energy project in Bangladesh. The Labour MP continues to deny any involvement.
29 December 2024
The Tories call for Siddiq to be recused of her anti-corruption duties until the allegations against her are cleared up. Home Affairs spokesperson Matt Vickers fumed that:
Keir Starmer must ensure Tulip is recused from all sanctions and anti-corruption policy decisions immediately while questions about her personal dealings remain unanswered.
3 January 2025
The Financial Times reveals that Siddiq had been given a two-bedroom flat near King’s Cross in 2004, also free of charge. In fact, it was donated by developer Abdul Motalif who has – you guessed it – links to Bangladesh’s Awami League party led by Hasina.
5 January 2025
New year, same troubles. The weekend before parliament returns from its Christmas break, new reports concerning Siddiq splash the Sunday papers. The Sunday Times reveals that the Treasury minister lived in a Hampstead flat gifted to her then-teenage sister Azmina by Bangladeshi lawyer Moin Ghani – for free. Ghani, it transpired, had represented Siddiq’s aunt’s government in the past.
And the Mail on Sunday is in on the action too – revealing that the paper had repeatedly quizzed Siddiq in the past on whether the King’s Cross flat (now worth £700,000) had been gifted to her. The newspaper claims the Labour MP had denied this, instead insisting her parents had purchased the property for her. Yet it later came out that the apartment was indeed given to her by developer Motalif as an ‘act of gratitude’. How curious…
Meanwhile Siddiq faces growing pressure from politicians to clarify the matter. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp calls on the Labour MP to ‘explain the source of her wealth’ while a senior Labour official tells the FT that the party leadership is finding it ‘hard to defend’ her financial affairs.
6 January 2025
Siddiq refers herself to the government’s adviser on ministerial standards, Sir Laurie Magnus, over her property holdings following the weekend’s scrutiny. In her letter to Magnus, the anti-corruption MP is adamant that she has ‘done nothing wrong’.
Sir Keir Starmer defends his City minister at an early morning press conference, telling journalists that Siddiq had ‘acted entirely properly’ by approaching the ethics adviser. The PM adds: ‘I’ve got confidence in her and the process that will now be happening.’
7 January 2025
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit has asked the country’s banks for details of accounts linked to the City minister – with the organisation also looking for information relating to Siddiq’s family members. ‘No evidence has been presented for these allegations,’ the Labour MP’s spokesperson said, adding: ‘Tulip has not been contacted by anyone on the matter and totally refutes the claims.’
11 January 2025
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch calls for Siddiq to be sacked, taking to Twitter to write that the Labour minister had become ‘a distraction when the government should be focused on dealing with the financial problems it has created’.
13 January 2025
The anti-corruption minister receives more bad news when the Times reports that Siddiq had been named in, um, yet another probe by Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission. Investigators are claiming Siddiq ‘reportedly used her influence and special powers’ to influence her aunt and former authoritarian premier of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina to allocate land to family members. UK Anti-Corruption Coalition questions why Siddiq was still in her government post, adding the Labour MP ‘currently has a serious conflict of interests’. The Labour minister denies these further allegations.
14 January 2025
Magnus concludes his independent review into the Labour MP. The ethics adviser notes that there was ‘a lack of records and lapse of time’ that impacted his probe, adding that he was not ‘able to obtain comprehensive comfort in relation to all the UK property-related matters referred to in the media’. Sir Laurie writes, however, that in relation to Siddiq’s King’s Cross flat ‘the public were inadvertently misled about the identity of the donor of this gift in her replies to queries in 2022’. Concluding, the standards adviser remarks that ‘it is regrettable [Siddiq] was not more alert to the potential repetitional risks arising from her close family’s association with Bangladesh’. Oo er. It hardly lets her off scot-free…
Siddiq quits from her role as City minister. She makes the announcement on Twitter after informing the Prime Minister, in a letter that focuses on Sir Laurie’s conclusion that the Labour MP has ‘not breached the ministerial code’. Responding, Starmer says that it is ‘with sadness’ that he accepts her resignation.
An independent review has confirmed that I have not breached the Ministerial Code and there is no evidence to suggest I have acted improperly.
— Tulip Siddiq (@TulipSiddiq) January 14, 2025
Nonetheless, to avoid distraction for the Government, I have resigned as City Minister.
Here is my full letter to the Prime Minister. pic.twitter.com/kZeWZfEsei
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