Tulip Siddiq quits government saying she does not want to be a ‘distraction’ amid sleaze probe

Tulip Siddiq quit government today saying she did not want to be a ‘distraction’.

In a letter to Keir Starmer, the MP insisted the independent adviser had found she did not breach the ministerial code.

Ms Siddiq said she had not acted ‘improperly’ and had provided ‘full details of her relationships and private interests’. 

But she said continuing as a Treasury minister would be a ‘distraction from the work of the Government’. 

Sir Laurie said that it was ‘regrettable that she was not more alert to the potential reputational risks’ 

Only this morning a fellow minister was insisting that Ms Siddiq was ‘getting on with doing her job’.

Asked how she could carry on doing her job while the investigation takes place, Dan Jarvis told Times Radio: ‘There is now an independent process where he’s (ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus) looking to establish the facts of this case and he will make a judgment. I am not independent in the sense that I’m a ministerial colleague of hers, so it’s not for me to make a judgment.

‘I’m sure that (the ethics adviser) will.’

Pressed again on whether she should stand aside, he said: ‘She’s getting on with doing her job… corruption is a process that’s managed across government, between the Home Office, the Treasury… the Prime Minister’s independent adviser is looking carefully at the circumstances of this particular case and the Prime Minister will ultimately make a decision.’