Tulip Siddiq faces calls to resign as treasury minister over £700,000 flat gift scandal

Tulip Siddiq, who is serving as the UK’s economic secretary to the Treasury and its city minister, is under pressure to resign after revelations that she lied about receiving a £700,000 flat in London as a gift.

The UK’s biggest-selling Sunday newspaper the Mail on Sunday reported that Tulip, niece of the ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, had previously denied receiving the two-bedroom flat from a property developer linked to her aunt.

Instead, Tulip had insisted that her parents purchased the flat for her reports bdnews24.com.

She also threatened legal action against the publication for suggesting otherwise.

According to the MoS, Labour sources have now confirmed that the two-bedroom flat near King's Cross was indeed given to her by the developer as an "act of gratitude”.

Tulip, 42, whose role is to stamp out corruption in Britain's financial sector, is under investigation in Bangladesh over allegations that she and four family members embezzled £3.9 billion from a nuclear power plant project.

MPs from the Conservative Party are calling for Tulip to step down unless she explains her actions.

Bob Blackman, the Tory MP for Harrow East, said: “Ms Siddiq needs to clarify the position in relation to her property dealings and explain what was stated originally and why.

“If she does not, her position as a minister is untenable.”

Matt Vickers MP, Shadow Home Office minister, said: “Allegations of this nature against any member of government are unacceptable, but are even more questionable when the minister is Starmer's anti-corruption minister.”

And Ben Obese-Jecty, the Tory MP for Huntingdon, said: “This new information about Tulip Siddiq is troubling.

“Now that it has been shown the flat was gifted to her and not purchased by her as previously claimed, Tulip Siddiq has further questions to answer.”

On Saturday Labour sources told the MoS that in 2022, when we first made enquiries, Ms Siddiq was told by her family that the flat was bought from a house sale. But apparently the family's recollections changed last week.

A Labour insider told the Financial Times on Saturday: “Following financial support provided by Tulip's parents to an acquaintance during a challenging time in his life, he subsequently transferred a property he owned into Tulip's ownership as an act of gratitude for her parents' support.”

The MoS reported that Labour sources later contacted them, insisting they had not “deliberately misled” the publication three years ago.

Tulip reportedly declined to comment, but a source close to her told the MoS: “Tulip's previous understanding of how she gained ownership of the property has changed.

“As soon as she realised the error she ensured the journalist who enquired previously was informed.”

Land Registry records show that Tulip became the sole owner of the third-floor flat in November 2004, when she would have just completed her MA at King’s College London and had no known source of income.

The property had no mortgage, and there was no price listed, suggesting it was transferred to her rather than purchased.

The previous owner of the flat was Abdul Motalif, a 70-year-old Bangladeshi who bought the property in 2001 for £195,000.

In 2022, when the MoS first inquired about the property, the Labour Party reportedly said Tulip’s parents had sold their family home to buy the King's Cross flat.

However, further investigations revealed no evidence of such a sale.

When it raised questions again in July, 2023, Tulip responded by threatening legal action, the report said.

An email from her Parliamentary account said, “The allegations you have set out are inaccurate and highly damaging.

“Tulip will not hesitate to take legal action if they are included in any article you plan to publish.”

The MoS said the claim further delayed the publication of the story, and Tulip maintained her position that her parents had sold their family home to purchase the flat, despite the lack of supporting evidence.

The publication was unable to reach Motalif, the developer tied to the Awami League.

Tulip has rented out the flat since at least 2013, declaring rental income while serving as a Labour councillor in Camden, North London.

Parliamentary records show she receives over £10,000 annually in rent from the property, whose lease was renewed by Tulip in 2018 for £95,000.

In July, 2023, Tulip became the first MP in the current UK Parliament to be investigated by the Parliamentary Standards Committee after it was revealed by the MoS that she had failed to declare rental income from a second property for 14 months.

Parliamentary rules state rental income has to be declared within 28 days.

She was cleared by the Standards Commissioner, who accepted the rule-breaking was “inadvertent”.