The London MP, her despot aunt and a scandal that won't go away

Tulip Siddiq's close links to a bloodthirsty regime leave her constituents with serious concerns

- JITENDRA JOSHI

Haven't we all been there - a much loved (if rather overbearing) relative is in the neighbourhood and you just have to catch up. That, in her telling, explained Tulip Siddiq's presence in Moscow in 2013. The trip to Russia, along with questions about various properties dotted around north London, left the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate waging an ultimately doomed battle to salvage her career in Sir Keir Starmer's government, and raised concerned eyebrows in the constituency.

It's never a good look to be accused of helping to facilitate a multi-billion-pound contract with Vladimir Putin's regime that was allegedly greased with kickbacks - still less when you're the minister in charge of tackling money-laundering and illicit finance in the UK.

The former economic secretary to the Treasury had denied any wrongdoing. The 42-year-old continued to enjoy the PM's backing after referring herself to Sir Laurie Magnus, the independent adviser on ministerial standards, following revelations she lived in properties linked to political allies of her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, who for decades ruled Bangladesh with an iron fist through her Awami League party.

Siddiq clung on for days to her post in Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s team. But on Tuesday Magnus presented his findings to Starmer, saying the fact Siddiq had not been more alert to the perception of a conflict of interest was “regrettable”. He advised Starmer to “consider her ongoing responsibilities” in the light of his findings.

A Downing Street source said Starmer had accepted Magnus’s conclusions. After the meeting, the Prime Minister spoke to Siddiq by phone and she then resigned. While insisting she had done nothing wrong, in her resignation letter she said continuing in the post would be a “distraction”.

The PM accepted her departure “with sadness” and said she had made a “difficult decision” and that he wanted “to be clear that the door remains open for you going forward”.