Unlock Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, editor-in-chief of the FT, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Britain’s Minister for Urban Affairs, Tulip Siddiq, has resigned from her post after being embroiled in a scandal linked to Bangladesh’s ousted government.
Close ally and friend of British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is the second minister to resign from his government since coming to power last July.
In a letter to Starmer on Tuesday, Siddiq said his continued role as minister was “likely to distract from the work of government”. She added: “I have therefore decided to resign from my ministerial post. »
Pensions Minister Emma Reynolds will replace Siddiq as economic secretary to the Treasury.
Siddiqwhose role as treasury minister included tackling illicit financing, had come under pressure to resign since she was named in a corruption investigation by the Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission in December.
The Financial Times later revealed that Siddiq was offered a two-bedroom apartment in London in 2004 by a developer. with links to the Awami League party led by her aunt, former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The Labor MP also lived in several other properties linked to the former Awami League diet. Siddiq had denied any wrongdoing and last week referred to Sir Laurie Magnus, the government’s independent adviser on ministerial standards.
Pressure on her has intensified in recent days after Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh’s interim leader and Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist, told the Sunday Times that Siddiq could have benefited from “simple theft”.
“She becomes minister for the fight against corruption and defends herself [over the London properties]“, he said. “Maybe you didn’t realize it, but now you do. You say, ‘Sorry, I didn’t know that [at] this time I apologize to people for doing this and I resign. She doesn’t say that. She defends herself.
This is a developing story
