Rishi Sunak removes Conservative Party chairman over tax disputes

First modification: 01/29/2023 – 20:35

Downing Street announced this Sunday, January 29, that Nadhim Zahawi, the president of the Conservative Party and a minister without portfolio of the Government, had been dismissed for “serious breach of the ministerial code.” “Consequently, I inform you of my decision to remove you from his position in His Majesty’s Government,” the head of government wrote in a letter published by Downing Street.

Sunak had asked his independent ethics adviser, Laurie Magnus, on Monday to investigate Zahawi’s tax matters. According to the BBC, the minister had to pay up to 5 million pounds ($6.2 million) in fines for misreporting his income, after selling his share in polling company YouGov, of which he was co-founder. A sanction that Zahawi negotiated in the summer of 2022 during his tenure as Economy Minister in the Government of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

According to the ethics advisor, Nadhim Zahawi should have declared the tax investigation he was subjected to, as well as updated his declaration of interests after the litigation.

“When I became prime minister last year, I promised that my government would have integrity, professionalism and responsibility at all levels,” Sunak’s letter said.

In response, the former minister published a letter to the prime minister in which he said he was concerned about “the conduct of some members of the fourth estate in recent weeks”, in a clear reference to the recent media coverage of the scandal. However, he offered no apology or explanation for the tax case.

After 13 years in power, the Conservatives have seen their reputation tarnished by cases of conflict of interest in recent years.

Last year, Sunak himself was hit by a scandal when the press revealed that his wife enjoyed a favorable fiscal situation in the midst of the inflation crisis.

From Iraqi refugee to British minister

In the same letter, Zahawi recalled that he began his life in the UK as an Iraqi refugee, fleeing from Saddam Hussein’s regime.

“I came to this country fleeing persecution and not speaking English. Here I built a successful company and held some of the highest government positions. I don’t think my story would have been possible in any other country in the world,” he said.

Born in Baghdad on June 2, 1967 into a Kurdish family, Zahawi came to the UK and earned a degree as a chemical engineer before going into business and founding YouGov in 2000.

He entered politics in 2010 and became, eight years later, Under Secretary of State for Children and Families under then-Prime Minister Theresa May.

In November 2020, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave him responsibility for the deployment of the vaccination plan against Covid-19 and he was Minister of Education and the Economy.

Zahawi was appointed Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister without Portfolio upon Sunak’s coming to power in October 2022.

The prime minister congratulated him on his career and told him he should be “proud” of his achievements in government over the past five years, “particularly his successful oversight of the Covid-19 vaccine procurement and deployment program that ensured that the UK was at the forefront of the global response to the coronavirus pandemic,” the president said at the time.

With EFE and AFP