The news that Rishi Sunak’s wife holds shares in a company awarded almost £350,000 by the UK Government is just the latest in a growing series of glaring conflicts of interests between the Prime Minister’s position and his family’s financial interests.
The story comes after it emerged that Akshata Murty held shares in a private childcare company awarded huge subsidies by Sunak’s government. It also comes after it emerged that she held other shares in a furniture firm, linked to Rupert Murdochs daughter, that received a further £300,000 worth of taxpayer-funded loans before it collapsed last year.
Add to this previous revelations about Murty’s family business, Infosys, allegedly receiving tens of millions of pounds in Government contracts, and the problem becomes all the more obvious.
Yet despite all of these facts, none of these potential conflicts have ever been publicly disclosed by the Prime Minister on either his register of ministerial interests, or on Parliament’s register of members’ interests.
So what’s going on here and why aren’t more questions being asked about the Prime Minister, his wife and their financial affairs?