UK City minister Tulip Siddiq resigns

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The UK’s City minister Tulip Siddiq has resigned from her post after she became embroiled in a scandal tied to the ousted government of Bangladesh.

The close ally and friend of UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is the second minister to resign from his government since it swept to power last July.

Siddiqwhose job as a Treasury minister included tackling illicit finance, had faced pressure to quit since she was named in a corruption probe by Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission in December.

The Financial Times then revealed that Siddiq was given a two-bedroom London flat in 2004 by a developer with links to the Awami League party led by her aunt, the former prime minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina.

The Labour MP has also lived in several other properties that are tied to the former Awami League regime. Siddiq has denied any wrongdoing and last week referred herself to Sir Laurie Magnus, the government’s independent adviser on ministerial standards.

This is a developing story