26 August 2023 , 19:19
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Rishi Sunak still faces another probe over Commons rulebreaking after he apologised for failing to properly declare his wife's shares in a childcare firm.
The PM was found to have broken the MPs' code of conduct by not declaring the stake Akshata Murty had in Koru Kids when questioned by a committee in March.
He then failed to correct the record in a letter to the committee chairman days later.
Koru Kids is one of six private childcare providers set to benefit from a Government pilot scheme announced by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to incentivise recruitment of childminders.
After months of back-and-forth arguments with Standards Commissioner Daniel Greenberg, Mr Sunak eventually accepted he’d “inadvertently” broken the rules, and apologised.
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But he still faces a further probe into an alleged breach of the confidentiality rules surrounding the probe.
The Commissioner was reportedly “furious” when the PM put details relevant to the investigation in the public domain, first by publishing a letter to Liaison Committee chair Bernard Jenkin, then in a footnote to the list of ministerial interests in early April.
“I note that there has been some media coverage relating to the minority stake my wife has in relation to the company Koru Kids,” he wrote in the letter, before insisting the interest had been “rightly declared to the Cabinet Office”.
The probe found registering it with the Cabinet Office wasn’t enough, and as an MP, he should have declared it to MPs as well.
The updated list of Ministerial Interests, published in April, reads: “The Prime Minister’s wife is a venture capital investor. She owns a venture capital investment company, Catamaran Ventures UK Limited, and a number of direct shareholdings.”
A footnote adds: “As the Prime Minister set out in his letter to the Chair of the Liaison Committee on 4 April 2023, this includes the minority shareholding that his wife has in relation to the company, Koru Kids.”
The Standards commissioner confirmed Mr Sunak remains under investigation for breaching paragraph 13 of the MPs’ code of conduct.
“Members must not disclose details in relation to…any investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards except when required by law to do so, or authorised by the Commissioner,” the rule reads.
In a letter to the PM in June, published on Thursday, Mr Greenberg told Mr Sunak: “I remind you that my inquiry into whether there was a breach of confidentiality continues and I am writing to you separately today about that matter.”
Downing Street declined to comment.
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