Rishi Sunak’s standards investigation: what happens next?

The PM’s answers seem to have been incomplete, if not evasive, says Sean O’Grady

The PM and his wife, Akshata Murty, in Cornwall this week (Simon Walker/10 Downing Street)

Rishi Sunak is under investigation by the parliamentary standards regulator over a possible failure to declare an interest; Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, opened the inquiry under rules demanding MPs are “open and frank” in their declarations. This latest embarrassment comes after the prime minister published his tax returns, which revealed the low rate he paid on his investments, and the fixed penalty notice he received some weeks ago for not wearing a seatbelt while travelling in a car. Before that was the major scandal, revealed by The Independent, about the non-dom tax status enjoyed by his wife, Akshata Murty, and family, and his green card to work in the US. News of the standards committee probe also derailed what turned out to be a fairly disastrous policy launch to encourage children to learn more maths.

What did Sunak do wrong?

He failed to tell a Commons committee about a conflict of interest, even when invited to do so; according to Downing Street, the issue relates to shares held by Ms Murty in Koru Kids – an agency that will benefit from government plans to incentivise people to become childminders.