LONDON — Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s U.K. Conservatives face a grim funding outlook with a 25 million pound ($30 million) shortfall less than two years before the next election.
After Nadhim Zahawi became Tory chairman in October, he was alarmed to find the party’s operating budget was around 5 million pounds in the red, according to people familiar with the matter. At one point things were so bad that the party’s bank account went into its overdraft to pay its staff wage bill, they said.
But now Zahawi himself has gone, fired by Sunak after being “careless” with his taxes. That’s left the Tories bereft of a chairman since Jan. 29. Whoever succeeds him will inherit an unenviable task in a role that’s responsible for election fundraising and campaigning.
