Nadhim Zahawi admits he paid nearly £5m to HMRC after ‘careless mistake’

Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Zahawi said: ‘I’m sorry that when I had my settlement with HMRC two years ago, I should have probably been more explicit in the details, in the ministerial declaration, as to how the settlement was arrived at, and that’s my own mistake.’ Photograph: Jeff Overs/BBC/AFP/Getty Images

Nadhim Zahawi has admitted for the first time he paid nearly £5m to the tax authority to settle his tax affairs, having previously denied the figure involved and claimed he was being “smeared” by journalists who revealed the issue.

The former chancellor told the BBC he had paid HMRC just under £5m after making what he called a “careless mistake” with the tax he paid on the sales of shares in YouGov, the polling company he helped found.