Who is Nadhim Zahawi? The child refugee turned multimillionaire politician sacked over his tax affairs

Published

2 years ago

January 29, 2023

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He is a former child refugee who sold Teletubbies merchandise, founded the UK’s best known polling company and was a contender to be leader of the Conservative Party.

But Nadhim Zahawi’s rise through the echelons of Westminster has been brought to an abrupt halt after he was sacked as Tory chairman over his tax affairs.

So how did the 55-year-old rise to be the toast of the Tories before being told by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak he had committed a “serious breach of the ministerial code”.

Follow reaction to Nadhim Zahawi’s sacking – live updates

Early years

Mr Zahawi was born in Bagdad, Iraq, and spent his early years growing up as part of an influential Kurdish family.

His father was a well-known businessman and his grandfather was the governor of the Central Bank of Iraq.

But after Saddam Hussein came to power in 1979, the dictator began to target the Kurds.

“It was clear to my family Iraq would not be safe under his leadership and that is when we decided we had to flee to the UK,” Mr Zahawi told his local newspaper, the Stratford Herald.

He arrived in the UK aged 11, unable to speak a word of English, and began his new life by going to Holland Park School in London.

Soon, his family moved him from a comprehensive education to private school, and he studied at both Ibstock Place School, Roehampton, and then King’s College School, Wimbledon, both in southwest London.

However, as he was set to go off to university, an investment by his father went belly up and the family lost everything, except for their Vauxhall car.

Mr Zahawi used the vehicle to become a minicab driver to contribute to the family finances, but his mother insisted he carry on studying and pawned her jewellery to cover the costs.

So off he went to University College London to study chemical engineering.

Business endeavours

After graduating in 1988, it was the world of business he wanted to pursue and he sought to echo his father’s example as an entrepreneur.

Like his father, it didn’t always go right – his setting up of a firm that sold Teletubbies merchandise ended as a “costly and painful mistake”, he later said.

But it did attract the attention and investment of Lord Jeffrey Archer – who once described him as a “born organiser” – and opened doors to the senior ranks of the Conservative Party.

Mr Zahawi became an aide to Lord Archer and in return, the peer helped with his own campaign to become a Tory councillor, winning a seat in the London borough of Wandsworth in 1994.

There was also a failed attempt to enter Parliament in 1997, when he competed for the new seat of Erith and Thamesmead amid a Labour landslide.

He helped with Lord Archer’s London mayoral campaign in 1998 too, but it was brought to an early close when the peer pulled out of the race amid controversy.

It was the turn of the millennium that signalled another change in Mr Zahawi’s fortunes when, alongside another former aide of Lord Archer’s, Stephan Shakespeare, he founded polling company YouGov.

The business grew and grew, and within five years it was floated on the stock market valued at £18m.

He would later tell Sky News he was “the beneficiary of the British dream“.

According to the Evening Standard, Mr Zahawi cashed in £1.2m of shares in 2005, and went on to work as the firm’s CEO for a further five years.

But having made his fortune, he set his sights firmly back on the world of politics and, in 2010, he was elected as the MP for Stratford-upon-Avon.

Masters Of Nothing

A year later, with world still affected by the fallout from the 2008 recession, he co-authored a book with fellow MP Matt Hancock, titled Masters Of Nothing: How The Crash Will Happen Again Unless We Understand Human Nature.

He began to gain some recognition in the party, becoming part of the Number 10 policy unit advising the then prime minister David Cameron.

However, in this early part of his Commons career, he became more known to the public for his part in a 2013 expenses scandal, having claimed cash to power his horses’ stables.

It wasn’t until 2018 that Mr Zahawi was appointed into his first junior minister post – a parliamentary under secretary at the Department for Education – and a year later he was moved to the business department.

But he became a household name after COVID broke out in the UK and he was appointed by Boris Johnson to become the country’s vaccine minister, receiving widespread praise for his work in the Department of Health and Social Care to tackle the pandemic.

‘Do the right thing and go’

The performance propelled him to cabinet and in September 2021, he took his first secretary of state post, back in the Department for Education.

The chaos that ensued the following year as Mr Johnson’s downfall played out in public saw him pushed up the ranks again, replacing Rishi Sunak as chancellor in Number 11 after his dramatic resignation.

But two days later, Mr Zahawi joined the growing horde of ministers calling for the PM to step down, telling Mr Johnson: “You must do the right thing and go now.”

A vacancy was created at the top, and he threw his hat in the ring to become the next Tory leader and next prime minister.

Giving his first broadcast campaign interview to Sky News, Mr Zahawi promised that under his control, the government would reduce corporation tax, income tax and national insurance.

But the issue of his own finances was brought to the fore after reports his tax affairs had been investigated by the Serious Fraud Office, the National Crime Agency and HMRC.

‘I was clearly being smeared’

“I was clearly being smeared,” he told Kay Burley. “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.”

Mr Zahawi didn’t make it through the first round of balloting, and instead threw his backing behind Liz Truss.

He carried on in the Treasury until Ms Truss took the keys to Number 10, but was dealt a demotion in her cabinet, instead becoming Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, minister for intergovernmental relations and minister for equalities.

As we know, this premiership was not to last long, and weeks later – under Rishi Sunak – Mr Zahawi was made chairman of the Tory Party.

A seven-figure sum

But those questions raised over the summer regarding his taxes were soon to resurface again.

In January 2023, The Sun On Sunday published a report claiming Mr Zahawi had paid a seven-figure sum to settle a dispute with HMRC over the sales of his YouGov shares.

Sky News made several attempts in the following days to get Mr Zahawi to confirm or deny the story, but his team refused, instead saying his tax affairs “were and are fully up to date and are paid in the UK”.

Mr Sunak stood by him during Prime Minister’s Questions that week, but by the weekend, the swirl of questions was growing by the hour.

‘Careless not deliberate error’

Mr Zahawi released a statement saying he paid what HMRC said “was due” after it “disagreed about the exact allocation” of shares in YouGov.

The Tory chairman said this was a “careless and not a deliberate error” and didn’t confirm if any penalty was also levied.

But Sky News understands that, as part of a settlement with HMRC, Mr Zahawi paid a penalty to the tax collector.

The exact size of the settlement has not been disclosed, but it is reported to be an estimated £4.8m including a 30% penalty.

Mr Sunak had ordered a potentially far-reaching investigation into Mr Zahawi to be conducted by the PM’s new ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus.

But the prime minister initally resisted calls to sack Mr Zahawi, saying he retained “confidence” in his colleague.

But in a letter published on Sunday morning, Mr Sunak said an ethics inquiry into the handling of his tax affairs found a “serious breach” of the ministerial code.

He added: “As a result, I have informed you of my decision to remove you from your position in His Majesty’s government.”

World

‘People were crying, they were trapped’: Spain reels from deadly flash floods

Published

14 hours ago

November 1, 2024

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'People were crying, they were trapped': Spain reels from deadly flash floods

Emergency responders are searching for bodies inside stranded cars and buildings following deadly flash floods in Spain that have killed at least 158 people.

Scenes of destruction have been left in the wake of the powerful floodwaters which hit the east of the country late on Tuesday and early Wednesday, marking Spain‘s worst natural disaster this century.

Cars have been piled high on top of each other, homes and businesses have been swept away, trees have been uprooted, and roads and bridges have been left unrecognisable.

Spain flooding latest: Looting breaks out as flood deaths rise

At least 92 people have died in the worst-hit region of Valencia, while deaths were also reported in Castilla La Mancha and southern Andalusia.

An unknown number of people remain missing.

“Unfortunately, there are dead people inside some vehicles,” Spain’s transport minister Oscar Puente said.

In the Valencian district of La Torre, nine dead bodies were discovered inside a garage – with a local police officer among the victims.

Luis Sanchez, a welder, said he saved several people from floodwaters rushing through the V-31 motorway south of Valencia city.

“I saw bodies floating past. I called out but nothing,” Mr Sanchez said.

“The firefighters took the elderly first, when they could get in. I am from nearby so I tried to help and rescue people. People were crying all over, they were trapped.”

Satellite images from NASA show how severe flooding has impacted Valencia and its surrounding towns.

The images, captured on 30 October, show large areas to the south of the city covered in floodwater.

The Turia river, which runs through the city, can be seen at a much higher level.

The Pobles del Sud, a large lake nearby, overflowed. Much of the area surrounding the lake was covered in floodwater.

The worst of the destruction was concentrated in Paiporta, a municipality next to Valencia city, where 62 people have been reported dead.

Mayor Maribel Albalat told national broadcaster RTVE: “We found a lot of elderly people in the town centre. There were also a lot of people who came to get their cars out of their garages… it was a real trap.”

What has caused the devastation?

The flooding events in Spain have been hard to witness. But the rainfall there could never have been anything but devastating.

Chiva, located just to the west of Valencia, received 491mm of rain in an eight-hour window.

Some 100-200mm fell in surrounding areas with the accumulation of running water producing apocalyptic scenes.

In addition there have been over 20,000 lightning strikes.

Whilst the rainfall totals are astounding in themselves, this part of the world is simply not accustomed to huge quantities of water falling from the sky.

In an average year, Spain would expect somewhere between 50 and 100 mm of rain throughout the entire month of October but Valencia and Andalusia would expect far less – just 60–70mm.

So how did this happen? It’s attributable to a DANA, a “depresion aislada en niveles altos” or a “cut-off low”.

This is a low pressure system which becomes slow moving or stationary, blocked by high pressure elsewhere, which can only keep shedding its rain over the same area for long periods of time.

These systems are not that unusual. They occur when cool air from the north is drawn across the Mediterranean in late summer and autumn when the waters are war. The temperature differential enhances storms and rainfall totals.

But whilst not uncommon, this one was certainly extreme.

And it hasn’t gone yet. This same system has continued to bring further heavy rain and thunderstorms today, but it has now moved a little further north and east, heading toward the French border and currently remaining to the west of Barcelona.

The rain and thunderstorms are likely to continue for a few days yet with the Tarragona and Castellon regions still under an amber warning while a yellow warning remains in force for both eastern and western Spain.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Thursday morning that Valencia had been declared a disaster zone and that the priority was to find victims and missing people.

He also urged those affected to stay at home as more torrential rain was forecast.

“The most important thing is that I know Spanish people are aware that this phenomenon has not finished,” he said.

Sky News’ Europe correspondent Adam Parsons, reporting from Valencia, said the devastation suffered in the region is “enormous”.

“What we’re witnessing now are the locals here who are waking up and seeing what’s happened to their town and what has happened is something almost apocalyptic,” he said.

A nearby shop was left “absolutely wrecked” and looked like a “bomb has gone off in there”, he added.

Three days of mourning has been declared in Spain, beginning on Thursday.

Spain’s Mediterranean coast is used to autumn storms that can cause flooding, but this was the most powerful flash flood event in recent memory, and scientists have linked its strength to climate change.

World

‘No one came to rescue us’: In this destroyed Spanish town, people are angry

Published

14 hours ago

November 1, 2024

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'No one came to rescue us': In this destroyed Spanish town, people are angry

In the Spanish town of Algemesi, people are angry.

The suburb of Raval was one of the worst hit by flash flooding but residents feel abandoned.

At least 158 people have been killed in the disaster in eastern Spain – with the worst of the flooding concentrated around the Valencia region.

Spain floods latest: Looting breaks out as flood deaths surpass 150

“When the alert came the water was already two metres high,” Carolina shouts from her balcony. “There were no police, firefighters or the mayor. No one came to rescue us.”

The distress is echoed street after street.

Carmen puts her head in her hands and weeps.

“They have lost everything,” she says, pointing at her neighbours’ houses.

Every home is in ruins and their owners are heartbroken.

Dolores shows us inside her house. She says the flood was up to the ceiling but because no help came, they have had to hammer holes in the walls to clear the water.

“I feel awful. I’m terrified and very afraid. My husband is sick – we need more help,” she says.

The level of destruction is immense.

On the street, we meet Noel with his children. The youngest toddler barefoot in the mud.

Yesterday, Noel and his wife had nothing to eat. He feels helpless.

“Right now, there are people who are trapped. The mud is up to their waists, so they can’t open their doors,” he says.

“I live on a high floor so I didn’t have problems with the flooding in my home, but I don’t have water, light, or food.”

There’s a growing feeling of desperation in this suburb.

At one point, someone shouts “food!” and people rush to grab what they can from a nearby shop.

It’s not clear if they have been let in by the owner or are looting.

The devastation is so great and at a time when people are at their most in need, they feel frustrated and alone.

In a nearby shelter we meet people from Algemesi who have been made homeless by the flood.

Carol says she has never felt so hopeless.

“There was a tree trunk that came into the front of my house. There are no walls, no ceiling. I don’t have anything. There’s nothing left,” she explains, beginning to cry.

For many, the initial trauma of this natural disaster has been compounded in the aftermath by a feeling of loss and loneliness.

World

Ukraine war: Thousands of North Korean troops near Ukraine border will enter battle ‘within days’, says Blinken

Published

14 hours ago

November 1, 2024

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Ukraine war: Thousands of North Korean troops near Ukraine border will enter battle 'within days', says Blinken

Thousands of North Korean soldiers are now positioned near Ukraine’s border and likely to enter combat in the coming days, the US says.

Russian troops have been training them in artillery, drones and “basic infantry operations, including trench clearing”, said US secretary of state Antony Blinken.

He said it strongly indicated they would be used on the front line and would therefore become legitimate targets for Ukraine.

Some 10,000 North Korean troops are in Russia, including up to 8,000 in the Kursk border region, Mr Blinken said.

The troops are wearing Russian uniforms and carrying Russian gear, according to US defence secretary Lloyd Austin.

“We’ve not yet seen these troops deploy into combat against Ukrainian forces, but we would expect that to happen in the
coming days,” Mr Blinken said on Thursday.

America’s top diplomat said the recruitment of troops from North Korea to Russia’s “meat grinder” was a “clear sign of weakness”.

Mr Blinken made the assessment after he and Mr Austin met their South Korean counterparts in Washington DC.

Foreign minister Cho Tae-yul called for the immediate withdrawal of North Korean soldiers from Russia and condemned it “in the strongest possible terms”.

They also all agreed China should do more to rein in North Korea, Mr Blinken said, adding that he’d had a “robust conversation” with Beijing this week.

Mr Austin also announced that – with the US election just days away – America would soon be announcing new security assistance for Ukraine.

The deployment of troops to Russia is down to the close relationship between President Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

The leaders last met in June when Mr Putin travelled to North Korea for the first time in 24 years.

A mutual defence pact was agreed during their summit, meaning the countries will help each other if they are attacked.

The US says North Korea has also given munitions to Russia as it continues its grinding effort to take more territory in Ukraine’s east.

The White House published images earlier this month which it said showed 1,000 containers of equipment being sent to Russia by rail.

There are concerns about what military aid Russia will now provide in exchange.

North Korea test-fired an an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time in almost a year on Thursday and there is speculation Russia may have provided technological help.

In a statement, the US, Japan and South Korea condemned the launch as a “flagrant violation” of UN resolutions.

“We strongly urge (North Korea) to immediately cease its series of provocative and destabilising actions that threaten peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and beyond,” they said.