Six questions for Sunak over Zahawi’s firing

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.

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.