Sheikh Hasina Wazed’s niece, Tulip Siddiq, resigned on Tuesday as a minister in Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government after weeks of damaging headlines about how she had allegedly benefitted financially from her links to her aunt’s Awami League.
In particular, Muhammad Yunus, in Dhaka, has been calling for her head as a way of getting at Hasina.
One point that has been repeatedly emphasised is that as economic secretary to the treasury and City minister, Siddiq was being accused of corruption by the new regime in Dhaka when she was herself the minister responsible for tackling money laundering and other such corrupt practices in the UK.
Although she is said to be a close friend of the Prime Minister – her constituency in London, Hampstead and Highgate, is adjacent to his, Holborn and St Pancras – her position became untenable when papers such as the Financial Times and the Sunday Times joined tabloids like the Daily Mail in doing full page reports on how she had been gifted apartments by Bangladeshi businessmen who wanted to get into Hasina’s good books – or she had stayed in such properties.
Although she has resigned, the likelihood is that the Prime Minister, who can be ruthless when his own position is undermined, almost certainly “encouraged” her to step down.
To be fair to Siddiq, she has been cleared of wrong doing by Sir Laurie Magnus, the independent adviser on ministerial standards. And Starmer promised she might get another ministerial job in the future. But for now her hopes of rising to the cabinet are over.
In her resignation letter addressed to the “Prime Minister”, she said: “I am grateful to your Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards Sir Laurie Magnus for acting with speed and thoroughness in response to my self-referral, and for giving me the opportunity to share the full details of my finances and living arrangements, both present and historic.
“As you know, having conducted an in-depth review of the matter at my request, Sir Laurie has confirmed that I have not breached the Ministerial Code. As he notes, there is no evidence to suggest that I have acted improperly in relation to the properties I have owned or lived in, nor to suggest that any of my assets ‘derive from anything other than legitimate means’.
“My family connections are a matter of public record, and when I became a Minister I provided the full details of my relationships and private interests to the Government. After extensive consultation with officials, I was advised to state in my declaration of interests that my aunt is the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh and to recuse myself from matters relating to Bangladesh to avoid any perception of a conflict of interest. I want to assure you that I acted and have continued to act with full transparency and on the advice of officials on these matters.
“However, it is clear that continuing in my role as Economic Secretary to the Treasury is likely to be a distraction from the work of the Government. My loyalty is and always will be to this Labour Government and the programme of national renewal and transformation it has embarked upon. I have therefore decided to resign from my Ministerial position.”
Starmer’s letter addressed to “Dear Tulip”, Starmer said: “It is with sadness I accept your resignation from your Ministerial role.”
He added: “In accepting your resignation, I also wish to be clear that Sir Laurie Magnus as Independent Adviser has assured me he found no breach of the Ministerial Code and no evidence of financial improprieties on your part. I want to thank you for self- referring to the Independent Adviser and for your full co-operation with the establishment of facts.
“I appreciate that to end ongoing distraction from delivering our agenda to change Britain, you have made a difficult decision and want to be clear that the door remains open for you going forward.”
Despite the cordial language in the letters, it does look Siddiq has been sacked because Siddiq, 42, was becoming an embarrassment to the government and to the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister also released the carefully worded letter he had received from Magnus, in which the independent adviser said: “I have, with the minister’s cooperation, reviewed relevant aspects of her personal financial affairs as well as the background relating to current and past properties she owns or has occupied. Ms Siddiq has assured me that she is wholly confident that she has disclosed in full all relevant information to me. I have considered the evidence for any particular connections between these properties and either the Awami League and affiliated organisations or the state of Bangladesh. I have also considered Ms Siddiq’s attendance at an event in Moscow in 2013 to mark the Bangladesh-Russia agreement to build the Rooppur Nuclear Plant.
“This process has involved in-depth discussions with a number of relevant individuals and the review of detailed information. A lack of records and lapse of time has meant that, unfortunately, I have not been able to obtain comprehensive comfort in relation to all the UK property-related matters referred to in the media. However, I have not identified evidence of improprieties connected with actions taken by Ms Siddiq and/or her husband in relation to their ownership or occupation of the London properties that have been the subject of press attention. Similarly, I have found no suggestion of any unusual financial arrangements relating to Ms Siddiq’s ownership or occupation of the properties in question involving the Awami League (or its affiliated organisations) or the state of Bangladesh. In addition, I have found no evidence to suggest that Ms Siddiq’s and/or her husband’s financial assets, as disclosed to me, derive from anything other than legitimate means.
“Given the nature of Ms Siddiq’s ministerial responsibilities, which include the promotion of the UK financial services sector and the inherent probity of its regulatory framework as a core component of the UK economy and its growth, it is regrettable that she was not more alert to the potential reputational risks – both to her and the Government arising from her close family’s association with Bangladesh. I would not advise that this shortcoming should be taken as a breach of the Ministerial Code, but you will want to consider her ongoing responsibilities in the light of this.”
Siddiq has been swiftly replaced by another woman, Emma Reynolds.