Sunak's family firm signed a billion-dollar deal with BP before PM opened new North Sea licences ( www.thelondoneconomic.com )

frog , 11 months ago

I think the rules for when politicians have to disclose a potential conflict of interest need to be significantly tightened. Sunak can technically say he has “no interest” in this business deal because InfoSys is owned by his father-in-law (and his wife only has a very tiny share), not him personally, and therefore he personally doesn’t gain any benefit from the deal with BP.

But looking at it in practical terms, for literally everybody else on the planet, if they don’t own a business themselves but a close family member does, any reasonable person would say they do, in fact, have an “interest” in that company. It is normal, predictable human behaviour that people will want their friends and relatives to succeed, and our laws need to recognise that people will act to benefit friends and family, not just themselves.