By Ben Kerrigan-
Zadhim Zahawi has been sacked as Tory Party chairman after an inquiry by the PM’s ethics adviser found he had breached the ministerial code in failing to disclose that HMRC was investigating his tax affairs.
The PM said an investigation by his ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus’s , made clear there had been a “serious breach of the ministerial code”.
Rishi Sunak asked for the investigation after reports Mr Zahawi had paid HMRC a penalty over previously unpaid tax.
Sir Laurie said Mr Zahawi had not only failed to include the HMRC investigation in his register of interests until July 2022, but also failed to update it once a settlement had been reached.
Taken together these “omissions” constituted a “serious failure to meet the standards set out in the ministerial code”, he said.
Sir Laurie was also critical of Mr Zahawi for describing new stories about his tax affairs as “smears” in July 2022 and failing to correct the record until January 2023.
“I consider that this delay in correcting an untrue public statement is inconsistent with the requirement for openness,” he said.
He concluded that Mr Zahawi had shown “insufficient regard for the general principles of the ministerial code and the requirements in particular to be honest, open and an exemplary leader through his own behaviour”.
.After receiving the findings, Mr Sunak wrote to Mr Zahawi praising his achievements but saying he had decided to remove him from government.
Mr Zahawi thanked the prime minister and said he took pride in his role in the vaccine rollout and the Queen’s funeral – but did not offer an apology or mention his tax affairs.
Sir Laurie was also critical of Mr Zahawi for describing new stories about his tax affairs as “smears” in July 2022 and failing to correct the record until January 2023.
“I consider that this delay in correcting an untrue public statement is inconsistent with the requirement for openness,” he said.
He concluded that Mr Zahawi had shown “insufficient regard for the general principles of the ministerial code and the requirements in particular to be honest, open and an exemplary leader through his own behaviour”.
He praised Mr Zahawi’s “willingness to assist with my inquiry” and said he appreciated the pressures of being a minister.
However, he added: “These factors, however, cannot mitigate my overall judgement that Mr Zahawi’s conduct as a minister has fallen below the high standards that, as prime minister, you rightly expect from those who serve in your government.”
Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs have been a headache for the government for the past 10 days.
Rishi Sunak has argued that due process is important. But he’s faced accusations he was weak for not acting earlier to get rid of Mr Zahawi.
The PM got the report from his ethics adviser early this morning. He spoke to Mr Zahawi to tell him he was being sacked, then it was confirmed publicly.
The report from Sir Laurie Magnus left little room for any other conclusion than Mr Zahawi’s departure.
He highlights a number of times Mr Zahawi should have declared more about his tax affairs – and didn’t.
Hence the conclusion that there was a serious failure to follow the ministerial rulebook.
In his letter to Mr Zahawi, Mr Sunak said the MP for Stratford-Upon-Avon could be “extremely proud of your wide-ranging achievements in government over the last five years”.
He specifically cited Mr Zahawi’s work overseeing the Covid vaccine, saying it was “critical to ensuring our country came through this crisis and saved many lives”.
But Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said Mr Zahawi should have been sacked “long ago” and accused the prime minister of being “hopelessly weak”.
Ms Rayner and Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds have now written to the prime minister asking him to “come clean” about when he was made aware of the HMRC investigation into Mr Zahawi.
Downing Street has previously insisted that Mr Sunak “was not informed of these details, informally or otherwise”.
The SNP’s Kirsty Blackman echoed Labour’s concerns saying: “Sunak still has questions to answer over this whole affair about what he knew about the settlement and what advice he received about Zahawi’s tax on his appointment.”
Levelling up Secretary Michael Gove told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that it was important the facts were “investigated fully and properly” and the situation had required “cool forensic analysis”.
Asked whether he should ever have been appointed, Mr Gove said his “understanding” was that there was “no information that was brought to the attention of the prime minister, either Rishi or indeed Liz Truss which would have led them to believe at the time it was inappropriate to have Nadhim on the team”.