UK City minister Tulip Siddiq resigns

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The UK Financial District Minister, Tulip Siddique, has resigned after being implicated in a scandal linked to the ousted Bangladeshi regime, amid warnings that she risks damaging the reputation of the British government.

A close ally of the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, admitted that remaining in the position – which includes responsibility for fighting corruption – was “likely to be a distraction from the work of the government”.

Siddiq was named in two corruption investigations in Bangladesh, and she faced allegations, first reported by the Financial Times, that she benefited from properties linked to the Awami League party led by her aunt Sheikh Hasina, the former prime minister of the South Asian country.

Sir Laurie Magnus, Starmer’s independent adviser on ministerial standards, found no breach of the ministerial code after a friend referred herself to him, but it gave a strong signal to the Prime Minister that she should be removed from her position at the Treasury.

“It is unfortunate that she was not more attentive to the potential reputational risks – both to herself and to the government – ​​arising from her close family’s connection to Bangladesh,” Magnus said.

In a letter to Starmer, he concluded: “I would not advise that this shortcoming be seen as a breach of the ministerial code, but you will want to consider its continuing responsibilities in that light.”

Pensions Minister Emma Reynolds, who worked before the 2024 general election as managing director at lobby group The CityUK, will replace Friend as Economic Secretary to the Treasury.

Torsten Bell, former head of the Decision Foundation thinktank, replaces Reynolds as pensions minister. Earlier this week, Bill’s twin brother, Olaf, was appointed as Starmer’s new head of policy.

Starmer said in a letter to a friend that he accepted her resignation “with sadness”, but insisted that “the door remains open for you to move forward.”

Friend is the second minister to be forced out of Starmer’s government, after Transport Secretary Louise Hay resigned last year.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the Prime Minister “dithered and delayed protecting his close friend” and should have sacked him earlier.

Siddiq has faced pressure to resign since he was named in a corruption investigation by the Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission in December.

The investigation came after a political rival accused Sheikh Hasina and her family, including a friend, of personally benefiting from a Russian-backed nuclear energy project, which the family denied.

Sheikh Hasina was ousted last year, and Bangladesh’s interim government alleged that senior officials in her regime had embezzled money from the banking system to buy property abroad. They denied these allegations.

The Financial Times revealed this month that Siddiq was given a two-bedroom flat in London in 2004 by a developer with links to the Awami League party.

Magnus indicated that a friend “remained under the impression” that her parents had given her the drug when she threatened journalists with legal action in 2022 after they made inquiries, only to admit this year that someone else had paid for it.

“The public was inadvertently misled about the identity of the donor of this gift in its responses to inquiries in 2022,” Magnus said. “This was an unfortunate misunderstanding that led to Ms Siddiq publicly correcting her ownership assets after becoming a minister.”

The Labor MP has also lived in several other properties associated with the erstwhile Awami League regime. The friend denied any wrongdoing.

Pressure on her has increased in recent days after Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh’s interim leader and Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist, told the Sunday Times that Siddiq may have benefited from “petty theft”.

A spokesman for Yunus said on Tuesday: “Tulip Siddiq may not have fully understood the source of the money and property she was enjoying in London, but she now knows and must ask the people of Bangladesh for forgiveness.

He added, “The interim government is actively working with international law enforcement agencies to investigate and recover the funds.”

A spokesman for Al-Siddiq responded to Younes’ statement by saying: “No evidence has been provided for these allegations. Tulip Siddiq has not been contacted by anyone regarding this matter and she completely denies the allegations.