Tory Sleeze - Nadhim Zahawi sacked as Tory chairman over tax affairs row

You know there's a problem with the government when an investigation finds Labour and Tory MPs are receiving donations from companies that have no premises or staff , former PM Boris Johnson appointed the guy who helped him secure an £800,000 loan as chairman of the BBC and the former Tory Chancellor and now (ex)Tory chairman is sacked for miss representing the number of shares he owns in the yougov polling company he set up to HMRC so he could pay less tax , the settlement he reached with HMRC is reported to have been £4.8m.

In one case, Sky News discovered that nobody had heard of a company donating hundreds of thousands to Labour MPs on a visit to its registered address, while the office of another company that donates to 24 Tory MPs was shut and apparently out of action.

Hannah White, the director of the Institute for Government, told Sky News that MPs should be prepared to answer questions about the donations they accept.

It follows an investigation as part of the Westminster Accounts that examines two companies ranked in the top 20 list of donors to individual MPs.
news.sky.com...

On Nadhim Zahawi's sacking the PM received a letter this morning form the Tory party's ethics adviser - Sir Laurie Magnus

In a letter written by Sir Laurie to the PM this morning following the conclusion of the investigation, the ethics adviser said Mr Zahawi had "shown insufficient regard for the general principles of the Ministerial Code" and not fulfilled the requirements of being an "honest, open and an exemplary leader".

In a second letter written by the PM to Mr Zahawi following Sir Laurie's findings, Mr Sunak said it is "clear that there has been a serious breach of the Ministerial Code".

In his four-page report, dated 29 January, Sir Laurie wrote: "Given the nature of the investigation by HMRC, which started prior to his appointment as secretary of state for education on 15 September 2021, I consider that by failing to declare HMRC's ongoing investigation before July 2022 - despite the ministerial declaration of interests form including specific prompts on tax affairs and HMRC investigations and disputes - Mr Zahawi failed to meet the requirement to declare any interests which might be thought to give rise to a conflict."
news.sky.com...

I feel a closer look at our PMs finances may be in order too , this government is limping to a 2024 election that could wipe the Tory party off the face of British politics , step forward Farage's Reform UK .... the New Tory party.

If they're standing in my area I will vote for them , if not I will not vote for the same old same old.

Westminster has lost the plot in the last few decades.. both commons and lords ooze the perception of corruption like most of the West and all the alternatives simply bake in a different version of bias and corruption.. labour going down the Fabián route is as disastrous as the Tories and libdems going down the Fabián rouite..

if the data is correct this quarter will see a hard landing across the west worse than 2007/8..

at this point the only way i can see the political parties in Westminster survive the coming cataclysm is if they all walk away from progressive liberalism as they did in 1922/23..

a reply to: gortex

I feel a closer look at our PMs finances may be in order too , this government is limping to a 2024 election that could wipe the Tory party off the face of British politics , step forward Farage's Reform UK .... the New Tory party.

the chances of any party making it to 24 intact will be impressive as the wheels came off that bus 3 quarters ago..

a reply to: nickyw

I think the sleeze that has surrounded the party for years and the fact we have a PM who not even the Tory party members voted for has alienated them from both the general public and the party's membership , I agree it's hard to see how they can turn it around and survive next year ... if there is a "next year"

a reply to: nickyw

It seems to me like they are just testing the waters, seeing how much they can get away with before the pitch forks come out. And they seem to be able to get away with just about anything. People are to busy looking the other way and expecting someone else to do something about it. That’s if they are even aware there’s a problem. It seems it’s only wrong if you get caught these days. Some people still think voting makes a difference, or that there’s some coming revolution that the political parties need to survive.

Nothing is going to stop the one way ticket to technocratic totalitarianism this country is headed towards.

a reply to: gortex

Just more confirmation of what we all know; Westminster is an amoral cesspit infested with people who believe they are above the laws that govern the rest of us.
Its sole purpose is maintaining the status quo so that these scumbags can continue lining their pockets and looking after each other at put expense.

This is just the tip of the iceberg and Zahawi has become just another sacrificial lamb led to the slaughter in order to deflect attention away from the dealings of the rest of them.
No doubt he will be rewarded for his silence and acquiescence with several Directorships etc.

Our political system is no longer fit-for-purpose and needs radical reform.

Its time we stopped whining and started taking action.

a reply to: gortex

agreed but then Westminster has ignored the discontent since 2007/8 we can see it on the left and right, even down to ignoring party, nationalist, unionist and even republican sentiments. every single vote since had seen a clear rejection of the current status quo which Westminster tries to ignore so it can hang onto the status quo..

we are at the 1922/23 sheering point where globalism and the progressive liberalism that was baked in all parties died.

we see that in the collapse of the ideological narrative from covid zero to net zero all the way through to the likes of twaw are crashing and burning. none of them are sustainable at this point..

as for Sunak he'll be the last pm as the conservative party which will reform as progressive liberalism did in 22/23..

a reply to: surfer_soul

to a point I agree, however I also feel we are at the 1922/23 point where the last iteration of this kind of thinking died..

an honest conversation would highlight the worry that while we stopped heading down that path in 22/323 many others carried on down the path to euthanising, sterilising the wrong sorts which was baked into all parties and all sections of the establishment..

the question becomes who'll take on that mantel today..as many countries today remain wedded to progressive ideology.

in that reading we are heading towards the next great war.

a reply to: Freeborn

Our political system is no longer fit-for-purpose and needs radical reform.

Its time we stopped whining and started taking action.

to be fair we can see that in the voting patterns since 2010 as voters try to take the country in a new direction, the obvious big one was the conservatives losing their EU referendum.. in that process we can see a clear rejection of Brown/Cameron/Clegg/May/Corbyn.

at this point there is very little left to reject bar Westminster as a whole... and its in that space i find myself reflecting on the 1922/23 collapse of the previous 100 year dominance of progressive liberalism and we mirror the corruption of expertise they faced then (seen clearly in the way the liberals gave out contracts during ww1 mirror the way the cons gave out covid contracts)

it all leaves me feeling what is ahead is going to be dire as we've only 1 or at the most 2 quarters before the hard landing hits a landing that was locked in 3 quarters ago as dotcom v2 has already happened.. the Lehman's to watch are BlackRock and Blackstone as well as disappearing pension pots..

the true scale of corruption will come to light in the coming months across the west..

a reply to: gortex

He like many of the rest of the very top of the Tory Party is patently unfit to be a politician never mind a right winger flinging mud at the poor while robbing far more than hundreds of benefit claimant's ever could by avoiding his tax's, probably been doing it from very early on in his career as well just like the vast majority of his fellow top tory offshore account hedge funding Tory Peers and that corrupt party's financial Backers.

They may have slung mud at Labour whom have there fair share of Blairite and it's opposite the ultra left wingers corruption to contend with BUT the old saying for the Tory's that they really should remember because it is going to come back on them after the travesty of this government and indeed they may NEVER be in government again with how many British people are sick and tired of them and now finally see them for what they are is the old saying "He who lives in a glass house should not cast stones".

Well there ARE good Tory's I am certain of that though I may not approve of there political affiliation but that is just opinion and those good ones like a certain gentleman who just list the party whip for questioning the mRNA Vaccines are mostly back benchers, they are not corrupt enough or bribable enough to EVER get onto the front benches in that corrupt party, for them only the Reform party remains a viable choice, I do dearly wish that there was something similar for the Labour party that like I say has it's own fair share of corruption, cronyism and under handed cash for honours dirty dealings.

Tory sleaze. Indeed.

"None of the above" for me though.

Quite like Angela Rayner, mind.

Nothing to do with her politics, though.....

a reply to: Oldcarpy2

Haha now now don't be getting distracted by the long leg's "Boris".

Sorry I could not resist, I am on the wall as to whether she really was deliberately crossing and uncrossing her leg's as the opposite benches claimed or if it was just the inconvenient seating that is not really lady friendly let's be fair.

a reply to: Freeborn

Pay MPs more then.

Ban all second jobs.

All investments in blind trusts.

Staff/offices provided directly from civil service (no more employing family)

Expenses limited to trave/accommodation same as most people who have to travel for work.

Serious limitations on role/power of political parties.

That's just for starters.

a reply to: gortex

Tip of the iceberg really.

a reply to: Oldcarpy2

Quite like Angela Rayner, mind.

And her 'ginger growler'?

Got to say, your taste does seem to be improving given your previous 'infatuation'!
🤣🤣🤣

a reply to: Freeborn

Stobbit!

a reply to: gortex

Nadhim Zahawi sacked as Tory chairman

That's what he gets for hoarding all of the secrets of ancient Egypt.



Cheers

a reply to: ScepticScot

They keep on saying about "breaches of the Ministerial Code" but there is also actually lying to Parliament.

And to everyone in the UK.

He should have the Tory Whip removed.

And certain parts of his anatomy.

originally posted by: Oldcarpy2
a reply to: ScepticScot

They keep on saying about "breaches of the Ministerial Code" but there is also actually lying to Parliament.

And to everyone in the UK.

He should have the Tory Whip removed.

And certain parts of his anatomy.

You expect rules to actually apply to them. Pfffft.

a reply to: ScepticScot

I know. What was I thinking?