FORMER Stratford MP Nadhim Zahawi has defected to Reform UK.
He says Britain is “drinking at the last chance saloon” and “really does need Nigel Farage as prime minister”.
The former chancellor, who stepped down from his Stratford seat ahead of the general election in 2024, announced his defection at a press conference in London on Monday (January 12) where he appeared alongside Reform UK leader Mr Farage.
Speaking at the press conference, Mr Zahawi said problems with free speech “on X or even just down the pub” was one of the reasons he was joining Reform.
He cited an “over-powerful” civil service and quangos that he said had been started under Labour PM Tony Blair and continued under his own Conservative government.
He added there had been major failures with mass migration and “bad, virtue-signalling legislation that has made us less competitive and less prosperous”.
Born in Iraq to a Kurdish family, Mr Zahawi arrived in England aged nine, unable to speak English, when his parents fled the regime of Saddam Hussein.
He grew up in Sussex and studied chemical engineering at University College London.
In 2000, Mr Zahawi co-founded the YouGov polling company, staying involved in its running for a decade and amassing significant wealth.
His financial affairs came under the spotlight in 2023 amid claims he avoided tax using an offshore company registered in Gibraltar to hold shares in YouGov.
He first denied the allegations before admitting more than a year later he paid nearly £5million to HMRC to settle his tax affairs.
Mr Zahawi said he paid the sum after making what he called a “careless mistake” with the tax he paid on the sales of shares in YouGov.
Rishi Sunak sacked him as Tory chairman in January 2023 after he was found to have breached the ministerial code by failing to declare the HMRC investigation.
He first entered Parliament in 2010 as the Tory MP for Stratford.
He spent nearly eight years on the backbenches, gaining media attention in 2013 for claiming expenses for heating stables for his horses.
But it was when he was promoted to help lead the government’s Covid-19 vaccine roll-out in 2020 that he rose to prominence.
He stepped down from his Stratford seat in May 2024, saying he wanted “a new, energetic Conservative” to take over.
