Keir Starmer thinks the British people are idiots. That’s the only rational explanation for his management – or appalling mismanagement – of the Tulip Siddiq affair.
For those not following this tortuous saga, Siddiq was Starmer’s hand-picked anti-corruption minister.
Or she was until 4.30pm yesterday, when she resigned after finding herself at the heart of an international corruption investigation.
According to investigations conducted by this paper, The Mail on Sunday and other news outlets, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn appeared to be benefiting from ties to her aunt, ousted former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
A central London property was involved. There were further allegations about a deal involving Russia and a nuclear power plant. And additional mysterious land deals in a ‘diplomatic zone of development’ near to the residences of her mother, sister and brother.
Siddiq denies any wrongdoing. But Starmer, after weeks of mounting pressure, finally caved, and announced his Treasury minister had ‘referred herself’ to the independent adviser on standards, Sir Laurie Magnus.
Yesterday, that investigation concluded. And, in the view of Downing Street, it found that she had essentially done nothing wrong. The Ministerial Code had not been broken. Nor had Siddiq been guilty of ‘any financial improprieties’.
Magnus found ‘no evidence to suggest’ her assets ‘derive from anything other than legitimate means’. But she was in danger of becoming a ‘distraction’. So with sadness, the Prime Minister decided he had to accept her resignation from his government.
Keir Starmer thinks the British people are idiots. That’s the only rational explanation for his management – or appalling mismanagement – of the Tulip Siddiq affair
Prime Minister Keir Starmer congratulates Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves after delivering her keynote speech during the Labour Party Conference 2024 at ACC Liverpool on September 23, 2024 in Liverpool, England
Last night, Keir Starmer moved quickly to replace Tulip Siddiq with her colleague Emma Reynolds
It’s a load of old cobblers. But precisely the sort of cobblers we have come to expect from Starmer’s hypocritical, self-righteous, ‘do-as-we-say-not-as-we-do’ administration.
For one thing, Magnus did not give Siddiq a clean bill of health. Although Starmer chose to overlook it in his exchange of correspondence with his outgoing minister, the Whitehall watchdog was subtly scathing.
‘It is regrettable that she [Siddiq] was not more alert to the potential reputational risks – both to her and the Government – arising from her close family’s association with Bangladesh,’ Magnus observed. ‘I would not advise that this shortcoming should be taken as a breach of the Ministerial Code, but you will want to consider her ongoing responsibilities in light of this.’
Which raises the question of why Starmer didn’t properly consider her responsibilities in the first place? I’ve known Tulip Siddiq for several years, after she replaced my late mother Glenda Jackson as the MP for Hampstead. She’s a hard-working, diligent and well-respected local MP. In another brief she would undoubtedly have made a very effective minister.
Yet her relationship with her family – and that family’s connections with the more shady side of Bangladeshi politics – was common knowledge. And by selecting her as his anti-corruption minister, Starmer was guilty of a staggering error of judgment. Her appointment effectively tied the probity of his government to the probity of Siddiq’s relatives in the Bangladeshi Awami League, a party that was ousted from office in August in a national coup.
But it also highlights another equally egregious error of judgment. It’s exactly a year since the Prime Minister – then in his last few months as Leader of the Opposition – piously pledged to deliver a ‘Government of Service’. Under the feckless Tories, ‘trust in politics is now so low, so degraded,’ he chided, ‘that nobody believes you can make a difference any more’.
‘After the sex scandals, the expenses scandals, the waste scandals, the contracts for friends, even in a crisis like the pandemic, some people have looked at us [politicians in general] and concluded we’re all just in it for ourselves.’
But the British people should not despair, he pledged. Under the saintly Sir Keir things would be radically different. ‘I promise a new purpose. To drag politics in this country back to service, tilt our economy back towards the interests of working people.’
What have the British people actually been rewarded with? The Downing Street donations for passes scandal. Wardrobe-gate. Freebie-gate. The sacking of one Cabinet minister following an offence of fraud. And now the resignation of the anti-corruption minister following corruption claims.
ulip Siddiq posing for a selfie with Keir Starmer and his wife
abour leader Keir Starmer (L) and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves arrive for a visit to the London Stock Exchange on September 22, 2023 in London
Twelve months ago the Prime Minister was bemoaning the cynicism of the electorate. Well this is where that cynicism comes from. From their politicians attempting to treat them like they’re children.
Tulip Siddiq hasn’t gone because she represents a ‘distraction’. She’s gone because she’s brought into sharp, uncompromising relief the double-standards and duplicity that lay as deeply embedded at the heart of Starmer’s ‘Government of Service’ as it did its predecessor.
When it comes to integrity of our public servants, we will not be getting ‘change’. Instead we will be subjected to the same conveyor-belt of sleaze, self-interest and self-indulgence.
Last night, Keir Starmer moved quickly to replace Tulip Siddiq with her colleague Emma Reynolds. Within hours it had emerged Reynolds had lobbied intensively against tougher business curbs on China.
A Government of Service? Maybe. But service to whom?
