Nadhim Zahawi: Tax scandal, sacking from Tory cabinet and net worth - the political career of Reform UK's new recruit

Nadhim Zahawi, who was briefly the Chancellor under Boris Johnson, has jumped ship from the Conservatives to Nigel Farage’s party.

The former MP and minister, who led the Conservative government’s vaccine programme in the early days of the pandemic, said Britain was “drinking at the last chance saloon” and “really does need Nigel Farage as prime minister”.

He appeared alongside Farage at a press conference today to announce his move.

Nadhim Zahawi’s political career

Following his election as the MP for Stratford-on-Avon in 2010, Zahawi became a member of the Number 10 Policy Unit – which provides policy advice to the Prime Minister - in 2013. In 2018 he was appointed a junior minister at the Department for Education, before taking up the same role in the Business Department in 2019.

In November 2020, Boris Johnson made Zahawi the first vaccines minister, responsible for delivering the Covid-19 vaccination to the UK. The coronavirus vaccination rollout began on 8 December of that year, with tens of millions of vaccinations administered.

In 2021, Zahawi became the Education Secretary, and then became Chancellor of the Exchequer in July 2022 when Rishi Sunak quit the role. Just two days after he was appointed to the role, Zahawi joined several Conservative MPs in imploring Johnson to resign from office, telling the Prime Minister to “do the right thing and go now.”

He stood in the contest to replace Johnson as Tory leader, but was eliminated straightaway and then came out in support of Liz Truss. After her victory, she was appointed him as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, before he became chairman of the Conservative Party and minister without portfolio under Truss’s successor Rishi Sunak. He was then sacked from the cabinet over a tax scandal.

He had to pay a seven-figure sum to the taxman after scrutiny of his family’s financial affairs. The questions which were raised concerned whether or not he should have paid capital gains tax on his founding share in YouGov, with sources suggesting he avoided this by using an offshore company. Zahawi’s share was held and sold when it was worth around £20m in 2018, by Gibraltar-based firm Balshore Investments. According to think-tank Tax Policy, Balshore’s sale of YouGov shares should have incurred capital gains tax of around £3.7m.

Zahawi insisted his taxes have always been “properly” and that any payments and settlements were “up to date” prior to his appointment as both Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and as Minister without Portfolio/Conservative Party Chairman. But Sunak still ordered an investigation into the MP’s handling of the situation.

The investigation, carried out by ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus, concluded that Zahawi “has shown insufficient regard for the general principles of the Ministerial Code” and that he had not fulfilled the requirements of being an “honest, open and an exemplary leader”. Sir Laurie also 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”.

He did not stand in the 2024 General Election.

How much is Nadhim Zahawi worth? 

Zahawi is believed to be one of the richest politicians in the House of Commons, with estimates of his wealth ranging from £30 million to up to £100 million.

A significant part of Zahawi’s net worth reportedly comes from his co-founding of polling firm YouGov in 2000, which he sold on the stock exchange in 2005. The Guardian also revealed in 2019 that the Chancellor spent much of his parliamentary career working as chief strategy officer for Gulf Keystone Petroleum.

This role reportedly paid him £52,325 in backpay in October 2015, in addition to a monthly salary of £20,000 from October 2015 which rose to almost £30,000 a month in August 2017. He is said to also have received approximately £330,000 in bonus payments.

What controversies has he been involved with?

Like most politicians, Zahawi’s career has not been without controversy. Just a few of the times the MP has made headlines include:

• In 2013, he was embroiled in an expenses scandal after it emerged he had billed taxpayers for the electricity supply to his stables
• In 2016, he voted against a Labour amendment that would require private landlords to make their homes “fit for human habitation”
• In 2020, Labour MP Tulip Siddiq accused him of misleadingly suggesting research showed parents “prefer to pay a modest amount, £1 or £2”, instead of receiving free school meals
• In 2023 the tax scandal blew up, leading to his sacking