The prime minister has faced questions over Akshata Murthy’s shares in a firm that could benefit from the Budget.
Image source, ReutersRishi Sunak has referenced his wife’s shares in a childcare firm in his published list of financial interests, after a conflict-of-interests row.
The PM has faced questions over Akshata Murthy’s shares in Koru Kids, a childcare agency which could benefit from a policy in last month’s Budget.
He faces a parliamentary probe after not mentioning them during a committee appearance last month.
On Tuesday, Labour called on him to “come clean” and publish his interests.
Downing Street resisted the call to publish them on Tuesday, saying it had no plans to publish Mr Sunak’s interests separately to the wider list of interests for all ministers.
It said that work to compile the list, which is managed by the PM’s ethics adviser, was “ongoing”.
But the full list for all ministers, including Mr Sunak, has now been published less than 24 hours later, for the first time in nearly a year.
The government has faced criticism about the late publication of the list, which and is meant to be published twice a year but was last updated eleven months ago.
The position of ethics adviser was unfilled during a six-month period last year, before current holder Sir Laurie Magnus was appointed in December.
On Monday, Downing Street said Mr Sunak had told government officials about the shares during routine conflict-of-interest declarations, which are not made public.
The shares were not mentioned in the latest publicly available version of the list, published in May 2022 when Mr Sunak was chancellor.
This public version of the list only includes financial and other interests considered “directly relevant” to ministers’ roles, including those held by close family members.
The updated version, published shortly before Mr Sunak appeared at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, now references the shares as part of a “number of direct shareholdings” held by his wife.
It also revealed that deputy PM Dominic Raab has paid for lawyers out of his own pocket to represent him during the ongoing inquiry into allegations he bullied civil servants in previous government roles, which he denies.