On 29 January 2023, the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, sacked the Conservative party chairman, Nadhim Zahawi. The dismissal followed an investigation by Sir Laurie Magnus, the independent adviser on ministers’ interests, which concluded that Zahawi had committed a “serious breach” of the ministerial code regarding his tax affairs.

In his first speech as prime minister in October 2022, Sunak vowed to lead a government with “integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level”. The declaration amounted to a specific pledge to restore public trust following the scandals that precipitated the downfall of Boris Johnson. The former prime minister was brought down by a succession of scandals, including the Owen Paterson lobbying controversy, “Partygate” and the Chris Pincher affair.

The formative months of Sunak’s premiership, however, were shaped by a series of sometimes self-imposed challenges to this “integrity, professionalism and accountability” maxim.

On 26 October, his first full day in office, Sunak reappointed Suella Braverman as home secretary. Braverman’s return came just six days after she had resigned from the short-lived Liz Truss government for a security breach involving the use of a personal email account to send sensitive documents. Braverman’s support had shored up Sunak’s standing in the October 2022 Conservative leadership contest – and her reward was a return to cabinet.

In Sunak’s first session of prime minister’s questions, Keir Starmer, the Labour leader of the opposition, argued that Sunak was “so weak that he has done a grubby deal, trading national security because he was scared to lose another leadership election.”

He added: “There is a new Tory at the top but, as always with the Tories, it is party first, country second.”

On 8 November, Gavin Williamson was forced to resign as the minister without portfolio following the publication of WhatsApp messages sent to the former chief whip, Wendy Morton. Williamson had told Morton there was a “price for everything” after learning he was not invited to the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

https://x.com/GavinWilliamson/status/1590074499889696768

Sunak told the House on 9 November that he regretted “appointing someone who has had to resign in these circumstances.”

The investigation into Zahawi represented the most serious test of Sunak’s pledge to lead a government with “integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level”.

***

The controversy that ultimately led to Zahawi’s dismissal centred on a tax bill over the sale of shares in YouGov, a polling firm he co-founded. The shares, worth an estimated £27 million, were held by Balshore Investments, a company registered offshore in Gibraltar and linked to Zahawi’s family.

HMRC began its investigation into Zahawi’s affairs in April 2021, during his tenure as vaccines minister.

Zahawi failed to disclose the probe when appointed education secretary by Boris Johnson in September 2021, and again when appointed chancellor in July 2022.

On 9 July 2022, shortly after his appointment as chancellor, the Independent reported that Zahawi was under investigation by the HMRC.

On 11 July, Zahawi appeared to refer to reports of an HMRC investigation as “smears”.

He told Sky News: “I was clearly being smeared. I was told that the Serious Fraud Office, the National Crime Agency, HMRC were looking into me.

“I’m not aware of this. I’ve always declared my taxes – I’ve paid my taxes in the UK. I will answer any questions HMRC has of me.

“But I will go further. I will make a commitment today, that if I am prime minister the right thing to do is publish my accounts annually. That is the right thing to do because we need to take this issue off the table.”

In August 2022, during his short tenure as chancellor, Zahawi reached an in-principle agreement with HMRC that included a penalty. He failed to declare this settlement when appointed to the cabinet by Liz Truss in September 2022, as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, or when made Conservative Party chairman by Rishi Sunak in October.

In January 2023, the Guardian reported that Zahawi had paid a penalty as part of a multimillion-pound settlement with HMRC. Zahawi, reported to have paid around £5 million in total, including the penalty, issued a statement acknowledging he had reached a settlement with HMRC following an investigation.

As a result, Sunak tasked Sir Laurie Magnus with investigating the timeline of disclosures. The report, delivered on 29 January, concluded that Zahawi’s “omissions” constituted a breach of the ministerial code.

The independent adviser on ministers’ interests found that Zahawi, upon his appointment as education secretary, did not declare the ongoing HMRC investigation into his tax affairs “despite the ministerial declaration of interests form including specific prompts on tax affairs and HMRC investigations and disputes”.

His declaration of interests form, completed upon his appointment as chancellor in July 2022, again “contained no reference to the HMRC investigation”, Magnus found.

The report deemed Zahawi to have been “inconsistent with the requirement for openness” on ministers.

In a letter to Zahawi, Sunak wrote: “When I became prime minister last year, I pledged that the Government I lead would have integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level…

“Following the completion of the independent adviser’s investigation – the findings of which he has shared with us both – it is clear that there has been a serious breach of the ministerial code.”

In his reply, Zahawi attacked the conduct of the “fourth estate”, citing a headline that suggested a “noose was tightening” around him.

https://x.com/nadhimzahawi/status/1619635655835004929

***

In April 2023, the deputy prime minister, Dominic Raab, resigned following a report that found he had bullied civil servants, marking the third major cabinet departure within six months of Sunak’s “integrity” pledge.

An inquiry, conducted by senior lawyer Adam Tolley KC, found that Raab had “acted in a way which was intimidating, in the sense of unreasonably and persistently aggressive conduct in the context of a work meeting”.

Raab said the inquiry was “flawed and sets a dangerous precedent”.

Zahawi and Raab both stood down from the House of Commons at the 2024 general election.

Announcing his decision to stand down as an MP, Zahawi stated: “Every morning as I shave my head in the mirror, I have to pinch myself. How is it that a boy from Baghdad who came to these shores, fleeing persecution and unable to speak a word of English, was able to do as much as I have?”

He added: “My mistakes have been mine and my successes have come from working with amazing people.”

https://x.com/nadhimzahawi/status/1788448836068810893