Starmer urged to sack ex-BD PM niece

UK PM Starmer to sack anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq over family ties to Bangladesh’s ousted PM.

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LONDON:

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced fresh pressure Monday to sack his anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq, amid accusations over her family ties to Bangladesh's toppled premier.

Siddiq has been dogged by claims about her links to her aunt Sheikh Hasina, who fled Bangladesh last August after a student-led uprising against her decades-spanning tenure as prime minister.

Earlier this month, the UK minister referred herself to Starmer's standards adviser, following a flurry of allegations including that she lived in properties linked to her aunt and the Awami League party Hasina led.

Siddiq has insisted that she has done nothing wrong. Asked on Monday whether Siddiq's position in the UK government remained tenable, senior British minister Pat McFadden told Sky News she had "done the right thing" with the self-referral.

He insisted the standards adviser had the powers to "carry out investigations into allegations like this". "That is what he is doing, and that is the right way to deal with this," McFadden said.

But UK opposition politicians want Siddiq fired. "I think it's untenable for her to carry out her role," the Conservatives' finance spokesman Mel Stride told Times Radio on Sunday.

"It's inappropriate for

Tulip to be in the position that she holds at the moment. She is the anti-corruption minister in government."