British Prime Minister expels Conservative Party Chairman from government

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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced this Sunday that he has ousted the chairman of his Conservative Party, Nadhim Zahawi, from his ministerial position amid a scandal over tax irregularities during his time as finance minister.

The investigation was left in the hands of the party’s new Ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, in charge of evaluating whether this scandal could end up leading to the expulsion of Zahawi from the position of “minister without portfolio” of the British Government that he occupies as president of the Conservative Party.

After the internal investigation was completed, Magnus sent a letter in which he found that Zadhawi had failed to meet the requirements of being an “honest, open and exemplary leader” and exhibited conduct “below the high standards that the Prime Minister expects, with reason, of those who serve in his government”.

After learning of this evaluation, Sunak has written to Zadhawi to inform him of his intention to remove him “from his position in His Majesty’s Government” for committing a “violation of the Ministerial Code”.

The prime minister has added, in his letter, Zahawi should be “extremely proud” of his “extensive achievements in Government over the past five years”, in particular, his “successful oversight of the vaccine acquisition and deployment program against COVID-19”.

DISPUTE FOR NON-PAYMENT

Zahawi was forced to pay a fine to settle a dispute over non-payment of taxes related to the polling company YouGov, whose foundation he participated in in 2000 before making the leap to the House of Commons.

According to the BBC, the former minister’s tax problems were resolved between July and September 2022 and the payment would be around 5 million pounds (almost 5.7 million euros), although there were many voices calling for his resignation given the seriousness of the case.