Sunak declares wife’s link to childcare firm amid standards investigation

theguardian.com:

Rishi Sunak has declared his wife’s shareholding in a childcare company that could benefit from a new government policy, four years after she invested in the company, a much-delayed new register of ministers’ interests has shown.

In a footnote to his entry on the register, Sunak declares that among “a number of direct shareholdings” owned by his wife, Akshata Murty, is a “minority shareholding” in Koru Kids, one of six companies involved in a pilot scheme to incentivise people to become childminders.

Sunak’s full entry for family interests says: “The prime minister’s wife is a venture capital investor. She owns a venture capital investment company, Catamaran Ventures UK Limited, and a number of direct shareholdings.”

This links to a footnote, which mentions the shareholding in Koru Kids.

The prime minister is being investigated by the parliamentary standards commissioner, Daniel Greenberg, over whether he properly declared his wife’s shareholding.

Companies House records show Murty first took a stake in Koru Kids in March 2019. The six registers published since then made no mention of it.

The new register is the first prepared by Laurie Magnus, who took over as the adviser on ministerial standards in December, six months after his predecessor, Christopher Geidt, resigned amid unhappiness over Boris Johnson’s involvement in lockdown-breaking parties.

The gap meant that, while the register is meant to be updated twice a year, the new version is the first since May 2022.

In an introduction to the register, Magnus said the list was not intended to be exhaustive, and that ministers should not be expected to list every interest for family members as this would be unfair.

“The list is not a register of interests and does not therefore