British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak must make himself available to the House of Commons Ombudsman for an inquiry into parliamentary standards. The accusation against him is that he did not disclose that his wife Akshata Murty, who comes from a wealthy family, has shares in a childcare agency that receives financial benefits from a new pilot program of the government. Sunak said on Tuesday through a spokesman that he was always ready to participate in the investigation and to clarify that he had always acted transparently.

Johannes Leithäuser

Political correspondent for the United Kingdom and Ireland.

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Last month, at the presentation of the draft budget for the current year, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt presented a pilot project that provides for payments for new educators, especially those who want to be deployed through placement agencies. The prime minister's wife holds shares in the placement agency Koru Kids, which could benefit from the new program.

The Prime Minister did not disclose this fact when questioned a few days later before a House of Commons committee on the childcare programme, and when asked if he had to report a conflict of interest, he replied, "No, all my information will be disclosed in the usual way". A few days later, however, Sunak wrote a letter to the relevant parliamentary committee stating that he had indicated his wife's shares in the agency to the management of his own house, the prime minister's office; an updated list of possible conflicts of interest of the members of the government will be published shortly.

Regardless of this list, however, there is an obligation for members of the House of Commons – and all holders of government offices belong to one of the two chambers of parliament – to always be aware of whether they may become involved in conflicts of interest as a result of economic or other activities. The Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament stipulates that this must be made public "frankly and freely".