A SENIOR Tory MP has called for MP Nadhim Zahawi to go.
Caroline Nokes, a former minister and the chairman of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, said the Stratford MP should “stand aside” as chairman of the Conservative Party after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak launched a probe into his tax affairs.
Ms Nokes continued that “there is a mantra… once you are the story then you have to go and I just genuinely think that this is too much of a problem for him”.
She told TalkTV: “I think the challenge for Nadhim is: Look at the front pages. He is leading too many of them and when you become the story it is a distraction from anything else that the Government is trying to do.
“There are countless examples of good, competent Cabinet colleagues who have got themselves in a mess who have resigned quickly and come back, really in some instances, just a few months later and I think in order to get this cleared up Nadhim should stand aside and let the investigation run its course.”
Ms Nokes is the first Tory MP to say publicly that Mr Zahawi should stand down from his Cabinet role.
Mr Sunak yesterday asked his ethics investigator Sir Laurie Magnus to look into the tax affairs of Mr Zahawi after it emerged he paid a penalty to HMRC over unpaid tax while he was chancellor.
On a visit to a hospital in Northamptonshire, Mr Sunak told reporters: “Integrity and accountability is really important to me and clearly in this case there are questions that need answering.
“That’s why I’ve asked our independent adviser to get to the bottom of everything, to investigate the matter fully and establish all the facts and provide advice to me on Nadhim Zahawi’s compliance with the ministerial code.”
He added that Mr Zahawi would remain Tory Party chairman during the investigation and had agreed to “fully cooperate”.
In a statement, Mr Zahawi said he welcomed the investigation and looked forward to “explaining the facts of this issue”.
Last July it was reported that an investigation had been launched into Mr Zahawi’s financial affairs – specifically whether the 55-year-old had avoided tax by using an offshore company called Baltimore Investments to hold shares in YouGov – a polling company he co-founded.
At the time, Mr Zahawi, who is reportedly worth more than £100 million, said the allegations of wrong doing were politically motivated “smears”.
Mr Zahawi had sought to end questions about his financial dealings by releasing a statement at the weekend in which he said there had been an error in his tax affairs, which had been accepted by HMRC as having been “careless and not deliberate”.
