Political heat map flashes red on Treasury

If you were to produce a political heat map of government right now, there would be one major part that would be bright red, and probably flashing: the Treasury.

Firstly, all the headlines have been about the current Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Tulip Siddiq.

For all the complexities and intricacies of this story, and there are many, the inescapable crux of it was something that even the most polished PR executive would struggle to add much luster to.

The minister responsible for the government’s anti-corruption campaign has been named in a corruption investigation.

Clumsy.

Crucially, Tulip Siddiq has always insisted she did nothing wrong and the Prime Minister’s independent adviser on ministerial standards concluded she did not breach the ministerial code.

The investigation, led by the Bangladesh Anti-Corruption Commission, focuses on allegations that Tulip Siddiq’s family embezzled up to £3.9 billion.

The current former minister’s aunt, Sheikh Hasina, was the country’s prime minister until her dismissal last year.

In an interview with the Sunday Times this weekend, his replacement, Muhammad Yunus, said houses used by Tulip Siddiq in the UK should be returned to his government if they had been taken by “simple theft”.

And what are the responsibilities of the economic secretary to the Treasury?

Well, this includes tackling economic crime, money laundering and illicit finance.

And remember, politics is not a court of law, but a court of perceptions – where unanswered questions are dangerous because they make headlines, however fair or unfair they may be.

The independent adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, concluded that “given the nature of Ms Siddiq’s ministerial responsibilities… it is regrettable that she was not more attentive to the potential risks to her reputation”.

And he added: “I would not advise that this failing be considered a breach of the ministerial code, but you will want to consider his current responsibilities in light of that.”

Oh dear.

And she came out, but it was a warm resignation on both sides with the Prime Minister publicly suggesting that she could very well serve as a minister again.

Compare this, by the way, with the three-sentence missive he sent to Louise Haigh, when she resigned as transport secretary in November.

Now let’s move on to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who also struggled to get out of the headlines.

The Prime Minister was full of praise for him and expressed Parliament’s confidence in him.

But the skyrocketing cost of public borrowing is a symptom that markets collectively do not seem convinced by the government’s economic strategy.

The Chancellor said “the economic headwinds we face remind us that we must go further and faster to revive the economic growth that plunged under the last government.”

What does this mean?

They will continue what they call their “industrial strategy”: there will be other announcements like the one on artificial intelligence on Monday.

The Tories say business confidence has collapsed and ministers have trashed the economy.

From the Prime Minister’s point of view, the aspirin of resignation relieves Tulip Siddiq’s headache that he had to endure.

Getting rid of the government’s persistent and painful headache of sluggish economic growth may take much longer, and doing so, or not doing so, will likely have far greater and lasting political consequences.