Sunak: I followed right process over sacking
Downing Street dismisses claims that ex-chairman did not get full chance to present case over tax issues
‘I was able to make a very quick decision that it was no longer appropriate for Nadhim Zahawi to continue in government’
RISHI SUNAK has promised to restore integrity in politics as he dismissed claims Nadhim Zahawi was not given a fair hearing before he was sacked.
The Prime Minister insisted he followed the “right process” after Mr Zahawi’s allies complained that he had only been given 30 minutes to make his case.
During a visit to Darlington, he stressed that “integrity is important to me” and promised to take “whatever steps are necessary to restore the integrity back into politics”.
Mr Zahawi was sacked as Tory party chairman on Sunday morning after an inquiry by Sir Laurie Magnus found he had breached the ministerial code for failing to be open about his tax affairs.
Yesterday Downing Street disputed claims made by his allies that he did not have a full opportunity to put his side of the story forward.
A Whitehall source said that, in fact, Sir Laurie spoke to Mr Zahawi for a second time on Saturday.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “We did not set any time limit for the adviser and he was free to carry out the investigation to establish the facts, and conclude his work when he thought he had done so.”
The spokesman said there are no plans to reform the system that allowed him to appoint Mr Zahawi while supposedly unaware of the HMRC settlement which led to his downfall.
Mr Sunak said that in response to Sir Laurie’s report he was “able to make a very quick decision that it was no longer appropriate for Nadhim Zahawi to continue in government”.
Mr Zahawi settled his £4.8million tax dispute with HMRC while he was chancellor under Boris Johnson.
No 10 insists Mr Sunak was not aware of any “outstanding issues” when he appointed him party chairman after becoming Prime Minister in October.
Mr Zahawi’s allies said at the weekend that he had told Sir Tom Scholar, the permanent secretary at the Treasury, that he had paid a fine — a fact which was not in Sir Laurie’s report.
They said the adviser had not questioned Sir Tom as part of his inquiry.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said they were confident Sir Laurie had all the access he needed.
The former chairman’s allies also claim he updated his register of ministerial interests last September to include a mention of the tax penalty he had paid.
But a Treasury source pointed out that Sir Laurie’s report made it very clear that the register of ministerial interests was not updated to mention the fine until January.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman also faced questions over why Mr Zahawi was sacked for breaching the ministerial code when Mr Sunak had reappointed Suella Braverman as Home Secretary just six days after she resigned for doing the same thing.
“Suella Braverman resigned and acknowledged the mistake she made,” he said. “It was on that basis that the Prime Minister chose to reappoint her.”
The Liberal Democrats says Mr Zahawi should be stripped of the Tory whip if he refuses to quit as the MP for Stratford-on-avon.
Stephen Massey, the party’s chief executive, is interim chair until Mr Sunak chooses a successor.