It is a story of two ex-ministers: the primary ministerial casualties of Sir Keir Starmer’s authorities, after simply six months in energy. Spot the distinction.
But Tulip Siddiq, the anti-corruption minister accused of hyperlinks to corruption, was backed by the prime minister for almost a month till she bowed to stress to give up.
Politics newest: Chancellor defends her information
Now MPs are making comparisons between the Labour excessive command’s response to each ex-ministers’ troubles. And never simply by MPs on the left of Sir Keir’s get together.
“But if you’re a member of the north London metropolitan elite and a friend of the prime minister you can survive for weeks.”
Picture:Louise Haigh resigned in November. Pic: PA
The primary report that Ms Siddiq was concerned in claims that she and her household had been being investigated over corruption allegations in Bangladesh appeared within the Each day Mail on December 19.
At first, allies of the then Treasury minister and MP for Hampstead and Highgate claimed the allegations had been “spurious”. Nicely, they’re not saying that now that she’s gone – finally.
The issue for Ms Siddiq was the longer the controversy dragged on the allegations grew much less spurious and extra severe. What initially appeared like unproven hyperlinks started to look extra believable and fewer defensible.
So after virtually a month of dangerous headlines, did Tulip Siddiq bounce or was she pushed? Formally she resigned. However virtually actually the prime minister reluctantly instructed her the sport was up after they spoke on the cellphone.
Picture:Tulip Siddiq (far left) together with her aunt, Sheikh Hasina (third left), and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a 2013 signing ceremony within the Kremlin. Pic: AP
Ms Siddiq and Sir Keir are MPs for neighbouring north London constituencies. Their election counts have been on the identical venue in Camden, therefore the election evening celebration photographs collectively.
And Sir Keir clearly didn’t wish to lose her, ending his letter accepting her resignation saying he needed “to be clear that the door remains open for you going forward”. Beneficiant.
Nevertheless it was fairly clear from late final week that she must go. She pulled out – or was ordered to withdraw – from Rachel Reeves’ controversial commerce journey to China.
And within the hours earlier than she resigned, her absence from the federal government entrance bench through the chancellor’s Commons assertion made it fairly apparent she was clearing her desk within the Treasury.
After quitting, she tweeted that the probe by the prime minister’s ethics watchdog, Metropolis grandee Sir Laurie Magnus, had confirmed she hadn’t breached the ministerial code or acted improperly.
Picture:Tulip Siddiq in 2014. Pic: Reuters
However the final paragraph of Sir Laurie’s three-page letter to Sir Keir was damning. It was “regrettable” that she wasn’t extra alert to the potential dangers to her popularity and that of the federal government of her shut household’s hyperlinks to Bangladesh, he stated.
Regrettable? In different phrases, it didn’t look good and was damaging to the federal government. After which got here the killer closing sentence: “You will want to consider her ongoing responsibilities in the light of this.”
Sir Laurie – Eton, Oxford, a baronet, a Metropolis financier for 40 years and a pillar of the institution – was telling the prime minister: “She may not have technically broken the rules, but my advice is she should go.”
Why did Sir Keir take so lengthy to be persuaded that was the precise end result? He stated for greater than per week that he was going by means of the correct course of and ready for Sir Laurie’s verdict. A really Sir Keir method to an issue.
Kemi Badenoch stated it was clear on the weekend that Ms Siddiq’s place was fully untenable, but Sir Keir “dithered and delayed to protect his close friend”, alleging: “Weak leadership from a weak prime minister.”
The Tory chief will little question hammer residence these arguments at Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions, when she’ll even have the chance to show up the warmth on the embattled Ms Reeves over the turmoil within the economic system.
It’s not simply Tories who’re accusing Sir Keir of dither and delay, nevertheless, and pointing to the contrasting therapy by No 10 of a northern working-class minister in bother and a member of the so-called north London metropolitan elite.
