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Six questions for Sunak over Zahawi’s firing

(Credit: Getty images)

Rishi Sunak intended the firing of Nadhim Zahawi to draw a line under the affair. Yet there are already questions being asked in Tory circles about whether the report rushed out this morning exaggerated the case against him.

In his resignation letter, Mr S notices that Zahawi makes no confession of guilt. It suggests that Zahawi could yet comment on its findings.

So, why the silence over its contents? Perhaps Zahawi thinks he did notify the right people in the right way at the right time – and cannot see how this constitutes what the PM calls a ‘very serious breach’ of the ministerial code. Perhaps things are precisely as the report by Laurie Magnus, the PM’s independent adviser on ministers’ interests, says.

Why the silence over its contents?

But still, Mr S can see six questions that remain outstanding: 

1.  Did Nadhim Zahawi notify Tom Scholar, the then permanent secretary, in August 2022 about having paid a penalty to HMRC the month before, after being notified of an investigation?

2. Did Zahawi update his register of ministerial interests to that effect in September?

3. Did members of Liz Truss’s team ask him about this when he was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and were they given straight answer?

4. If the above are true, why omit these facts from the report? Are they not relevant to Zahawi’s defence? 

5. Was Nadhim Zahawi given the time to put forward his full version of events? 

6. Why the speed? These investigations tend to take weeks, if not months, to conclude. 

Of course, the biggest question of all is why Sunak didn’t just call Zahawi and ask. As grumbles grow from Zahawi supporters about a weekend hit-job that refused the accused the right to a defence, these are questions No. 10 might have to answer sooner rather than later 

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