Rishi Sunak broke MPs' code of conduct by failing to declare his wife's childcare shares, commissioner finds

Rishi Sunak "inadvertently" broke the MPs’ code of conduct by failing to declare his wife’s shares in a childcare agency which was set to benefit from government policy, the Commons’ standards commissioner has said.

Daniel Greenberg concluded the breach arose out of the Prime Minister’s “confusion” around the rules, and decided to close the inquiry without the need for further action. The standards commissioner opened the probe in April following concerns that Sunak did not detail his wife Akshata Murty’s shares in childcare agency Koru Kids, that benefited from the budget.

In the spring statement, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a pilot scheme of incentive payments of £600 for childminders joining the profession - via six agencies including Koru Kids. According to Companies House, Murty was a shareholder in the firm as recently as March, but the PM failed to mention his wife’s links to the firm when questioned by MPs about the policy.

Appearing before the Liaison Committee on 28 March, Sunak did not mention Murty’s shares in the firm. Questioning why the sum doubled to £1,200 if workers sign up through an agency, Labour MP Catherine McKinnell asked if Sunak had any interests to declare. “No, all my disclosures are declared in the normal way,” Sunak responded.

In April, the MPs' register of interests was updated to include Murty’s minority shareholding in Koru Kids, as well as her ownership of a venture capital investment company, Catamaran Ventures UK Limited.

Sunak later declared Akshata Murty’s stake in Koru Kids in the ministerial register of interests, which is published less frequently. Greenberg's report said: “In accordance with the Code, Ms Murty’s shareholding was a relevant interest that should have been declared during the Liaison Committee meeting on 28 March 2023.”

The standards commissioner said he was satisfied that Sunak had “confused” the concept of registration relating to arrangements for ministers with the concept of declaration of interests under the code of conduct for MPs. “I formed the view that the failure to declare arose out of this confusion and was accordingly inadvertent on the part of Mr Sunak,” the standards commissioner concluded.

Greenberg said: “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.”

In a letter to the commissioner, Sunak said: “Should this scenario arise again, I have acknowledged that I have a duty to write to the Committee after my appearance to correct the record. I accept and once again apologise that my letter to the Liaison Committee on 4 April 2023 was not sufficiently expansive, as it confused the language of registration and declaration.”

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “This is just further evidence that the system needs a full overhaul. Despite his apology and repeated promises of change, Rishi Sunak recently ditched a key recommendation from Parliament’s Standards Committee, which Labour supported, to tighten the rules around declaring interests and hospitality.

“Labour will toughen up the system, increase transparency and introduce an independent ethics and integrity commission that will clean up our politics and restore standards to public life.”

The PM's press secretary said: “The commissioner’s investigation into the Prime Minister’s declaration of interest has been resolved by way of rectification. The Prime Minister takes seriously his responsibilities to register and declare all relevant interests.”

It is not the first time his wife's affairs have come under scrutiny. Murty’s vast personal wealth initially faced scrutiny in March 2022 after Private Eye revealed that Infosys - her father’s firm in which she holds a lucrative stake - had kept its Russia office open despite Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Many other global firms pulled out of the country, while Sunak himself called for businesses to boycott the pariah state. Infosys insisted to the BBC that it had not benefited from any Russian business and that it had closed the office as of 1 April.

It was also revealed that Murty was shielding her vast wealth from the UK taxman by holding non dom status, something Labour has said it will abolish. Sunak also faced questions about his own tax affairs, after it emerged he had held onto US green card status well into his tenure as the head of the Treasury. The status generally requires you to pay US tax on your worldwide income and to make a legal pledge to one day make the USA your permanent residence.