Blitz Bureau
Treasury Minister Tulip Siddiq has resigned after growing pressure over an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh, as per a BBC report.
She had referred herself to the Prime Minister Keir Starmer adviser,Laurie Magnus, after questions about links to her aunt, who was ousted last year as Bangladesh’s Prime Minister. Laurie said he had “not identified evidence of improprieties” but it was “regrettable” that Siddiq had not been more alert to the “potential reputational risks” of the ties to her aunt.
Siddiq said continuing in her role would be “a distraction” for the Government but insisted she had done nothing wrong.
Before her resignation was announced, Siddiq had been named in a second investigation in Bangladesh. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said PM Starmer “dithered and delayed to protect” her.
Writing on X, she said: “It was clear at the weekend that the anticorruption minister’s position was completely untenable. Yet Keir Starmer dithered and delayed to protect his close friend. “Even now, as Bangladesh files a criminal case against Tulip Siddiq, he expresses ‘sadness’ at her inevitable resignation. “Weak leadership from a weak prime minister.”
In a letter accepting Siddiq’s resignation, Starmer said the “door remains open” for her. Siddiq, whose role as Economic Secretary to the Treasury included tackling corruption in UK financial markets, was named last month in an investigation into claims her family embezzled up to £3.9bn from infrastructure spending in Bangladesh. Her aunt is the former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, head of the Awami League, who fled into exile after being deposed last year. Siddiq, Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, also came under intense scrutiny over her use of properties in London linked to her aunt’s allies.
