What took you so long, Rishi?

● PM finally fires Zahawi - SIX MONTHS after we exposed scandal ● Seven ministerial code breaches include 'untrue' claims about Independent ● He lashes out at press... but fails to apologise

Rishi Sunak has finally sacked Nadhim Zahawi as Tory party chair over a “serious breach” of the ministerial code, more than six months after The Independent first revealed details of an HMRC investigation into Mr Zahawi’s tax affairs. The former chancellor – who is now facing calls to resign his seat as an MP – did not apologise for his handling of his tax affairs and lashed out at the media in an exit letter to the prime minister. More than a week after it emerged that Mr Zahawi had paid a £1m fine to HMRC, the PM told him in a letter that there had been “a serious breach of the ministerial code” and that he would be stripped of his cabinet role. Mr Sunak revealed yesterday that his ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, had judged Mr Zahawi to have broken ministerial rules seven times by failing to be open and honest during the tax saga – including by making “untrue” public statements. But the former Tory minister Michael Portillo said the length of time it took Mr Sunak to act had made the PM “look weak”, while Craig Oliver, a former No 10 director of communications, agreed the delay had made the prime minister appear “quite weak”. Tory MP Nigel Mills also shared this frustration. “I don’t see why we couldn’t have been here a week ago,” he told The Independent, adding that it was “odd” for Mr Zahawi to be sacked for a lack of transparency rather than the fact that he had been fined £1m by HMRC. A senior Conservative Party figure said the former chancellor had damaged the government by not “stepping back and sorting it” last week.