While many are currently worrying about paying for their shopping, a rich top Tory's family have bought a second supermarket.
Nadhim Zahawi's wife Lana now owns two superstores as part of the pair's £100 million property empire.
In September 2021, she bought a £6.3 million plot which includes a giant Co-op and car park in St Neot’s, Cambridgeshire.
It was purchased through Zahawi and Zahawi Ltd, a company controlled by Mr Zahawi’s wife, the day before he became Secretary of State for Education, The Mirror reports.
Mr Zahawi was a director and founder but stood down in 2018 upon joining the Government.
Another firm controlled by Lana owns land worth £18million containing an Asda megastore in Brierley Hill, West Midlands.
Its value has risen £1.25million since it was bought four years ago.
Mr Zahawi, the 55-year-old MP for Stratford-on-Avon and former vaccines minister, is tipped as a leadership contender if Boris Johnson is forced out.
He has refused to rule out running for the top job, refusing to answer the question three times last week.
In the past six years, the couple’s companies have spent over £80million on commercial properties.
They also own five residences worth £17million – three in London, one in Warwickshire and one in Dubai.
Questions have been raised about Mr Zahawi’s declaration of interests.
Last year, it emerged one of his wife’s firms bought a £3.5million industrial estate by the Eurotunnel train station in Ashford, Kent, mortgage-free – days before the Government secured the trade deal with the EU in December 2020.
Mr Zahawi had played a leading role in preparing for Brexit.
Sir Alistair Graham, former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said: “In my view, this falls far short of the standards of transparency we expect.
"It is a potential conflict of interest and should have been fully declared.”
In the list of ministers’ interests, Mr Zahawi declares his wife “is director of several limited companies, including Zahawi & Zahawi Ltd, which own commercial and retail property”.
Individual firms and properties are not named. Mr Zahawi was approached for comment.
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