Starmer ‘Will Listen’ to Inquiry Into Tulip Siddiq’s Bangladesh Property Links

An undated file photo of Tulip Siddiq, MP for Hampstead and Highgate and anti-corruption minister. Victoria Jones/PA

The prime minister will act on the findings of an investigation into anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq, a Cabinet minister has said.

Science Secretary Peter Kyle said Siddiq has “done exactly the right thing” in referring herself to the parliamentary watchdog over allegations published in The Sunday Times and the Financial Times that she lived in properties linked to allies of her aunt, former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Siddiq, the MP for Hampstead and Highgate in north London (previously Hampstead and Kilburn) since 2015, referred herself to the independent adviser on ministerial standards Sir Laurie Magnus on Monday.

She is under intense scrutiny after reportedly being given an apartment in King’s Cross in 2004 by Abdul Motalif, an associate of members of the Awami League party in Bangladesh.

It is also alleged that she lived in a flat in Hampstead which was given to her sister by lawyer Moin Ghani, who had represented the Hasina administration.

In a letter to Magnus asking for an investigation to be opened, Siddiq, who is economic secretary to the Treasury in addition to holding the the anti-corruption brief, maintained she had done nothing wrong.

Kyle told Sky News’ “Sunday Morning” programme, “I think the right way to go through this is to allow the authorities to investigate, we have given more powers to those authorities to do independent investigations, and you know full well when it comes to [Prime Minister Sir] Keir Starmer he will listen to what the authorities say.”

The science minister said that Starmer’s approach would differ from that taken by the previous Conservative government into Dame Priti Patel over allegations of bullying while she was home secretary, saying, “The results came out, she was found guilty, and no action happened.”

Neighbouring MPs

There have been calls from the the opposition for Starmer to sack Siddiq, who is his neighbouring MP in north London where the prime minister represents Holborn and St. Pancras.

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride, also speaking to Sky on Sunday, said that Starmer needs to “get a grip” as it is now “impossible” for Siddiq to do her job.

Stride said: “What is not right is that the prime minister is not moving her out of that position and getting her to step down.

“Because she is the anti-corruption minister, she has serious charges laid against her now, or serious accusations around corruption, and it’s going to be really impossible for her to do that job under current circumstances.

“So she should step down, and the prime minister needs to get a grip of that.”

Bangladesh's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gestures while speaking to the media, a day after she won the 12th parliamentary elections, in Dhaka on Jan. 8, 2024. Indranil Mukherjee/AFP via Getty Images

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called for Starmer to fire Siddiq in an X post on Saturday.

“He appointed his personal friend as anti-corruption minister and she is accused herself of corruption.

“Now the Government of Bangladesh is raising serious concerns about her links to the regime of Sheikh Hasina,” she added.

Starmer said previously that Siddiq had “acted entirely properly” in referring herself for investigation and that he has “confidence in her.”

Bangladeshi leader Muhammad Yunus has called for Siddiq to apologise and resign, saying: “She becomes the minister for anti-corruption and defends herself.

“Maybe you didn’t realise it, but now you realise it.”

He told The Sunday Times that properties used by or gifted to Siddiq should be investigated and handed back to his government if they were acquired through “plain robbery.”

Exiled to India

Siddiq’s aunt is in exile in India after being deposed in August last year following a student-led uprising against her leadership and allegations of human rights abuses against the regime.

The former prime minister is being investigated by an anti-corruption commission in Bangladesh.

Hasina is alleged to have been involved in brokering a 2013 deal with Russia for a nuclear power plant in Bangladesh in which large sums of cash are said to have been embezzled.

Siddiq was photographed alongside her aunt and Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2013 but has denied allegations that she helped broker a deal with Moscow to get the project underway.

Chancellor to the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden told Times Radio on Monday that the allegations against Siddiq would be properly examined.

“When we won the election six months ago, we boosted the powers of the independent adviser in the new ministerial code that was issued, to make sure that he had the power to initiate and carry out investigations into allegations like this.

“That is what he is doing, and that is the right way to deal with this.”

Magnus, a former banker appointed as the independent ethics tsar by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, has the power to recommend sanctions if an MP is found to be in breach of a code of conduct.

Siddiq Denies Wrongdoing

Siddiq pulled out of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s trip to China last week in order to deal with the allegations against her as the pressure to resign mounted.

“In recent weeks I have been the subject of media reporting, much of it inaccurate, about my financial affairs and my family’s links to the former government of Bangladesh,” Siddiq said in her letter to Magnus last week.

“I am clear that I have done nothing wrong.”

Labour’s links to the former regime in Bangladesh have also come under scrutiny following the allegations against Siddiq. Starmer visited the country nine months after he was first elected as an MP, accompanied by Sir Stephen Timms, now a social security minister, and Steve Reed, now an environment minister.

Hasina congratulated Starmer following his general election victory in July last year, highlighting the “Awami League’s enduring friendship with the Labour Party.”