Nadhim Zahawi standing down as a Conservative MP ahead of the election would be the “best outcome” after his sacking over rule breaches, a senior Tory figure has said.
Rishi Sunak fired Mr Zahawi after his ethics adviser found “serious” violations of the ministerial code over his tax affairs, more than six months after The Independent revealed an HMRC investigation.
Senior Tory MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown – treasurer of the party’s powerful 1922 committee – said Mr Zahawi should now consider resigning his Stratford-Upon-Avon seat.
“I’m seriously unhappy with the way he’s handled it,” Sir Geoffrey told BBC 5 Live. “He knew perfectly well he had paid a [tax] penalty.
“At that point he should have either said to the prime minister, ‘Look this has happened – you should know this before you appoint me’. Or at least when [the penalty] got into the public domain … he should have resigned immediately.”
Pressed on whether he was worthy of being an MP, Mr Clifton-Brown said: “Personally, I think someone who has committed a serious offence like this would have to consider their position very carefully.”
Sir Geoffrey added: “I think the best outcome to this would be if Nadhim said he didn’t want to stand. I’m sure he will be considering very carefully what his future in politics is in the next few weeks.”
The Liberal Democrats have also called on Mr Zahawi to quit as an MP, saying he was “unfit to serve the people of Stratford-on-Avon”, while Labour party chair Anneliese Dodds said the Tory MP “needs to think about his future”.
The Lib Dems have also written to Mr Sunak calling on him to withdraw the Conservative whip from Mr Zahawi, and called for inquiry into legal threats made by the ex-chancellor.
Deputy leader Daisy Cooper said he had “threatened campaigners and journalists with legal action simply for trying to uncover the truth”, adding: “Rishi Sunak surely has no choice but to withdraw the Conservative whip.”
But Sir Geoffrey did not think it was necessary to suspend Mr Zahawi. “He’s paid the ultimate penalty. The question is much more important as to whether he continues as MP after the next election, and I think the electorate will have a say on that.”
Health minister Helen Whately – who insisted Mr Sunak had been “fair” in his sacking the Tory chairman – rejected the idea he should stand down. She said Mr Zahawi’s constituents will be given the opportunity to decide whether he should remain an MP after his sacking.
“We are all accountable to our constituents and it is not that long again until there will be another general election in which voters will again make those decisions,” Ms Whately told BBC Breakfast.
Former Brexit secretary David Davis told Channel 4 that the chances of Mr Zahawi returning to the cabinet were “vanishingly small”, adding that it would be “quite difficult for him” to keep his Stratford-on-Avon seat despite a majority of almost 20,000.
Senior Tory MP John Penrose, the government’s former anti-corruption tsar, has demanded new checks on Treasury minsters’ tax returns in the wake of the Zahawi affair.
Mr Penrose – who resigned last year over the “Partygate” saga – said HMRC should have special permission to expose Treasury ministers whom they suspect are dodging tax.
The former minister told BBC 5 Live that HMRC should be able to break the customary confidentiality of individuals’ tax returns in the case of Treasury ministers. “We need to upgrade our system so we can prevent more of this happening in the future - we have got to have a system that works better,” he said.
Mr Penrose added: “There might be a case for revisiting the question for Treasury ministers, because HMRC cannot say, ‘Hang on a second we think there’s an issue’ because they are bound by confidentiality. Maybe there should be a slightly tougher regime for Treasury ministers in particular.”
But Mr Penrose dismissed the idea of suspension for Mr Zahawi. “I don’t think having just paid an enormous fine and being sacked from the cabinet, we should find other things to heap on him at the moment. Those are two pretty huge penalties he has just been handed,” he told BBC Radio 4.
Meanwhile, allies of Mr Zahawi claimed that the MP had lost his job after being given only limited time to make his case, with claims he was only given a 30-minute meeting with Sir Laurie to defend himself.
The ex-chancellor’s allies told The Spectator that he had told Tom Scholar, then permanent secretary at the Treasury, about both the HMRC investigation and the penalty paid.
They also claim his ministerial register of interests was up to date in September 2022, despite Sir Laurie’s report stating that he had failed to update it until earlier this month. The register has not been published since May 2022.
Mr Zahawi is said to be “furious” about his sacking by Mr Sunak, according to The Times, and is considering a formal response to the details set out in the ethics adviser’s report.
“He’s opened himself up to all sorts of problems in the future,” one Zahawi ally told the newspaper of Mr Sunak. “The Boris lot always accused Sunak of not having any loyalty. He’s proved the point. Good luck keeping ministers onside now.”
Sir Laurie’s four-page report said the technical details of the HMRC investigation were outside his scope. Among the findings, he notes “omissions” from Mr Zahawi that amount to a “serious failure” to meet the standards of the ministerial code.
Sir Laurie also accused him of making an “untrue public statement” about the investigation last summer. Mr Zahawi initially dismissed our story as a “smear”, claimed he was “not aware” of the HMRC investigation, and threatened The Independent and others with legal action.
But last Saturday, the minister admitted that HMRC had found he had made an “error” that he claimed was “careless and not deliberate”. It emerged he had paid a £1m penalty as part of an estimated £5m tax settlement with HMRC in September.
