Nadhim Zahawi is the latest Conservative MP to announce he will step down at the next election.
The former chancellor said the time is right for “a new, energetic Conservative” to take over.
The Stratford-on-Avon MP becomes the 64th Conservative to announce he is standing down at the end of this parliament.
In a statement posted on X/Twitter, Zahawi said: “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?
“For all our challenges, this is the best country on Earth, and it helped me make my British dream come true.”
Zahawi has represented the constituency of Stratford-on-Avon since the 2010 general election.
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He was sacked from the government in January 2023 by prime minister Rishi Sunak after controversy over tax penalties that he had received from HMR in 2022, and an associated breach of the ministerial code when chancellor.
He had served as minister without portfolio and chair of the Conservative Party between October 2022 and January 2023.
Zahawi was previously the chancellor of the Duchy of the Lancaster and secretary of state for the Cabinet Office under Liz Truss.
He briefly served as chancellor of the Exchequer for two months at the end of Boris Johnson’s premiership. He is only the second UK chancellor never to have presented a budget.
Zahawi had previously sat in the cabinet as the secretary of state for education between September 2021 and July 2022.
He stood in the 2022 contest to become Conservative Party leader, but he was eliminated following the first round of voting among Conservative MPs.
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