30-01-23, 01:44
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#81
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re: Boris QUITS After Giving GONGS to Pals & LIES to Parliament Over Partygate
Tory Chief EX-Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi FIRED
Nadhim Zahawi committed a serious breach of ministerial code, says Sunak
BBC 30 JAN 2023
Nadhim Zahawi has been sacked as Tory Party chairman, after an inquiry by the prime minister's ethics adviser found he had failed to disclose that HMRC was investigating his tax affairs.
The PM said Sir Laurie Magnus's inquiry made clear there had been a "serious breach of the ministerial code".
Rishi Sunak asked for the probe after Mr Zahawi admitted paying a settlement to HMRC, including a penalty.
Sir Laurie said the MP had missed many chances to be open about his tax.
In his report for Mr Sunak, he wrote: "Mr Zahawi's conduct as a minister has fallen below the high standards that, as prime minister, you rightly expect from those who serve in your government."
Sir Laurie cited Mr Zahawi's failures to update his register of interests until more than a year after HMRC started looking into his taxes.
When Mr Zahawi reached a settlement with the taxman in August 2022, this too should have been declared, Sir Laurie wrote.
The BBC understands that Mr Zahawi - who was then responsible for the UK's tax system as chancellor - paid around £5m in total, including a penalty.
Mr Zahawi has previously insisted that he acted properly, and that his tax error was "careless and not deliberate".
But Mr Zahawi's "omissions" of information constituted a "serious failure to meet the standards set out in the ministerial code", Sir Laurie wrote in his report.
Sir Laurie was also critical of the MP for describing news stories about his tax affairs as "smears" in July 2022 and failing to correct the record until earlier this month.
"I consider that this delay in correcting an untrue public statement is inconsistent with the requirement for openness," he said.
After receiving the findings, Mr Sunak wrote to Mr Zahawi to say he had decided to remove him from government.
Mr Zahawi thanked the prime minister and said he took pride in his role in the vaccine rollout and the Queen's funeral - but did not offer an apology or mention his tax affairs.
He promised to support the prime minister "from the backbenches in the coming years".
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