British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak Apologizes Over Failure to Declare Wife's Business Interest: Investigation Finds Confusion, Not Omission

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has issued an apology to the UK parliamentary watchdog following an investigation into his failure to declare his wife's business interest. The investigation concluded that the failure to declare arose out of confusion and was inadvertent. The investigation, led by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Daniel Greenberg, was opened in response to allegations that Sunak failed to declare his wife's shares in a childminding agency when discussing the government's financial incentive scheme for childcare workers.

Sunak claimed that he had declared the interest on the Ministerial Register, and Greenberg determined that he had confused the concept of registration with the concept of declaration of interests. As a result of the investigation, Greenberg decided to conclude the inquiry by employing the rectification procedure available to him, rather than issuing a formal report to be presented to members of Parliament. Sunak acknowledged and apologized for the breach of the rules as required by the Standing Order.

In his letter to the Commissioner, Sunak expressed regret for the inadvertent errors and accepted the proposal for rectification. He clarified that he had correctly registered his wife's shareholding and stated that he had not been aware of the connection between the childminding agency and the government's policy until after a Liaison Committee hearing. Sunak committed to writing to the committee to correct the record in case such a scenario arises again. The issue gained significant media attention following the Spring Budget, which introduced a pilot scheme of incentive payments for childminders.

Sunak's wife's company, Koru Kids, was one of the selected childminder agencies, with Akshata Murty listed as a shareholder. During the Commons Liaison Committee hearing, Sunak was specifically asked if he had any interests to declare when discussing the policy's formation, to which he responded in the negative, stating that all his disclosures were made in the normal way. Overall, the investigation concluded that Sunak's failure to declare his wife's business interest was unintentional, arising from confusion rather than any deliberate attempt to evade the rules. Sunak's apology and acceptance of rectification have been noted, and steps have been taken to ensure future transparency in similar situations.