'Weak' Starmer mired in crisis as corruption minister Tulip quits over Bangladesh sleaze row

SIR KEIR Starmer's Government was plunged into crisis last night after Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq quit amid a sleaze row.

- Martyn Brown

The Labour MP resigned after a watchdog's probe into her links to an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh found she had not breached the ministerial code but criticised the politician's "regrettable" behaviour.

Her departure is the third high-profile resignation to have hit the Prime Minister since he entered Downing Street in July.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the latest humiliation shows Sir Keir is a "weak" leader.

Ms Siddiq, who was responsible for tackling economic crime, money laundering and illicit finance, has faced allegations about properties and land linked to her aunt Sheikh Hasina, the deposed former Bangladesh prime minister.

Ms Siddiq, a close friend of Sir Keir, came under scrutiny over her use of properties in London linked to her aunt's allies and, on Monday, authorities in Bangladesh filed a criminal case against her for allegedly "using her influence" as an MP to illegally acquire land for her mother and siblings.

Ms Siddiq, 42, has also been named in a separate £4million embezzlement investigation into a nuclear deal struck by her aunt, who is now in exile in India.

The MP quit just over a week after she referred herself to Sir Laurie Magnus, the independent adviser on ministerial standards, insisting in a letter: "I am clear that I have done nothing wrong."

After a "fact-finding" exercise, Sir Laurie told Sir Keir yesterday he had "not identified evidence of improprieties" connected with Ms Siddiq but advised the PM to reconsider her responsibilities.