Rishi Sunak mentions wife’s childcare shares in delayed register of interests

The newly published list of ministerial interests declares the financial shares held by Rishi Sunak's wife in a private childcare agency.

For the first time, the delayed list contains a reference to a "number of direct shareholdings" owned by Ms Murty, with small print referring to a minority stake in Koru Kids.

The prime minister is currently being investigated by the parliamentary standards watchdog over whether or not he failed to declare this when questioned in front of the liaison committee last month.

But Downing Street has always maintained Mr Sunak followed the rules at all times, by declaring it as a ministerial interest, rather than to MPs.

Koru Kids is one of six private childminding agencies listed on the government website that could benefit from childcare funding announced in the Budget.

As an incentive to encourage more childminders into the sector, those who sign up through private agencies will get a £1,200 financial bonus, while independent starters will get £600.

Mr Sunak didn't declare his wife's stake in Koru Kids when he was interrogated about this in March, but he insisted all of his personal interests had been declared in the normal way.

A No 10 spokesperson insisted Mr Sunak's team was "happy to assist the commissioner to clarify how this has been transparently declared as a ministerial interest.”

The 2023 List of Ministers' Interests, which until Wednesday had not been updated for a year, states that the "prime minister's wife is a venture capital investor".

It reads that Mr Sunak set out in a letter to the Chair of the Liaison Committee, on 4 April, that his wife has a "minority shareholding" in Koru Kids.

The Chair of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Daniel Greenberg, opened an investigation into whether or not Mr Sunak failed to declare the interest when interrogated by Labour MP Catherine McKinnell on 28 March.

Ms McKinnell asked Mr Sunak why the chancellor had announced a double bonus for childminders who sign up through a private agency, and if he had anything to declare.

At the time, Mr Sunak said: "No, all my disclosures are declared in the normal way".

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had urged Mr Sunak to "come clean" about his financial interests, while Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain said it was "another accusation of a Conservative Prime Minister bending the rules".

The updated list doesn't necessarily mean Mr Sunak will get the all clear in Mr Greenberg's investigation.

The watchdog opened the inquiry under rules in the Ministers' Code of Conduct that state members must always be "open and frank" in declaring their interests while in proceedings of the House or its committees.

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