Rishi Sunak's ministerial interests published following launch of Commons probe

Rishi Sunak's list of ministerial interests has been published following a row over whether he was transparent enough in declaring shares his wife holds in a childcare agency.

The register, compiled by the prime minister's independent ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus, was released on Wednesday after opposition parties piled on the pressure.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer yesterday urged Mr Sunak to "come clean" and publish the details and urged him not to "hide behind the process" and "come clean".

The calls for greater transparency came after an investigation was launched into Mr Sunak by parliament's standards commissioner Daniel Greenberg.

Downing Street confirmed that the investigation related to shares held by Akshata Murty, Mr Sunak's wife, in a childcare agency that is set to benefit from last month's budget.

Mr Sunak subsequently wrote to MPs to confirm that he had lodged the interest in the then-unpublished ministerial register - but he did not declare it verbally when quizzed about it by the liaison committee last month.

In the register - which was published just moments before prime minister's questions on Wednesday - a footnote confirmed that his wife holds shares in Koru Kids, one of the six childcare agencies listed on the government's website that welcomed Jeremy Hunt's announcement to offer cash incentives to childminders.

The footnote read: "As the prime minister set out in his letter to the chair of the liaison committee on 4 April 2023, this includes the minority shareholding that his wife has in relation to the company, Koru Kids.

"The guide to the categories of interest... sets out the independent adviser's approach to the inclusion of interests declared in relation to spouses, partners and close family members within the list."

While Mr Greenberg did not go into the specifics of what Mr Sunak was being investigated for, he cited paragraph 6 of the MPs' code of conduct, which states that members "must always be open and frank in declaring any relevant interest in any proceeding of the House or its committees, and in any communications with ministers, members, public officials or public office holders".