Rishi Sunak was left red-faced today after an MP brought up his failure to disclose shares in a childcare agency held by his wife.
In August parliament’s standards watchdog concluded that the prime minister had inadvertently breached the Ministerial Code after failing to mention shares held by Akshata Murty in the childcare agency Koru Kids.
The firm was one of a number to receive incentive payments of £600 for childminders joining the profession and £1,200 for those who join through an agency, following measures announced by Jeremy Hunt in March.
A probe was opened by Commissioner for Standards Daniel Greenberg in April over allegations of a possible failure to declare the shares after failing to mention his wife’s interest during a grilling about childcare reforms at a parliamentary committee in March.
Speaking at PMQs, Labour’s Rachel Hopkins began: “The prime minister has said he’ll lead a government of honesty, accountability and integrity.
“So can the prime minister explain how he found to have breached the Code of Conduct, this time for failing to declare his wife’s shares in a childcare agency which received a monetary boost from measures in his budget.”
Sunak responded: “If the Honourable Lady reads the full transcript and the full findings, she will see a detailed explanation of what happened which the Commissioner described as a minor and inadvertent breach.
“Given that at the time I was not aware of the policy that was being discussed with me and corrected it later on, and could have corrected it with slightly different language.”
He added: “She’ll also known that I’m not the only person across these despatch boxes that has had the same thing happened to them.”
Article 6 of the Code of Conduct states that members must “always be open and frank” in declaring “any relevant interest in any proceeding” of the House of Commons.
Greenberg said that Murty’s shareholding was a “relevant interest” that should have been declared during the prime minister’s appearance at the Liaison Committee.
He added: “During a meeting with Mr Sunak on 30 June 2023 I acknowledged that he may not have been aware of Ms Murty’s shareholding at the time of the Liaison Committee meeting, but he had a duty to correct the record.
“However, Mr Sunak was aware of the interest when he subsequently wrote to the chair of the Liaison Committee, Sir Bernard Jenkin MP, on 4 April 2023, and he failed to declare the interest at that stage or correct the record.”
Related: Starmer labels Tories ‘cowboy builders’ over school concrete crisis