DAILY MAIL COMMENT: A brutal sacking but Nadhim Zahawi had to go trends now
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The end was brutal in its execution but hardly a surprise. For several days Nadhim Zahawi has been clinging on to his job as Tory party chairman by a thread. Yesterday the thread finally snapped.
In a brief telephone call, Rishi Sunak told him he had breached the ministerial code, failed to meet the standards required of his Government and had to go.
Mr Zahawi can have no real complaints. He obfuscated about his tax affairs and – crucially – failed to tell the Prime Minister that the £5million he paid HMRC in settlement included a seven-figure penalty for lack of full disclosure.
For a backbencher, this would have been deeply embarrassing. For a Cabinet minister who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer while he was being investigated, it was fatal.
In a brief telephone call, Rishi Sunak told Nadhim Zahawi (left) had breached the ministerial code, failed to meet the standards required of his Government and had to go
Zahawi failed to tell the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that the £5million he paid HMRC in settlement included a seven-figure penalty for lack of full disclosure
Like many prominent figures caught in the eye of a scandal, Mr Zahawi shamefully tried to blame the Press. But this was a mess entirely of his own making and he should face up to it.
Although the Left was naturally crowing with delight at another high-profile Tory scalp, this is in many ways a tragic tale.
A refugee from Iraq, who came here as a child unable to speak English, Mr Zahawi went on to help create and build the hugely successful polling company YouGov from scratch. He showed exactly the kind of enterprise and
