Chris Mason
Political editor

Nadhim Zahawi’s sacking has felt increasingly inevitable for at least a week – almost all his colleagues, in private, growing in exasperation that he’d neither resigned nor been fired.

So why the dither? Rishi Sunak has sought to define integrity by seeking to establish the facts first rather than act impulsively.

Privately, some ministers saw this as naïve, “too nice” as one put it.

Sunak’s judgement is borne of his character, but also his political circumstances; the fifth prime minister of this Conservative run in office, dire opinion poll ratings and restive backbenchers.

And so smothering internal anger is seen by No 10 as crucial, even if its consequence is the appearance of defensiveness, hesitancy.

And there’s a pattern here:

The resignation of an ally, Gavin Williamson, over allegations of bullying, which Sir Gavin said he refuted.

The appointment of Suella Braverman as home secretary, after she backed him for the leadership – but also a week after she’d resigned from the very same post for breaking the ministerial code.

And the ongoing investigation – by a senior lawyer – into the Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, another ally – over accusations of bullying he denies.

This is unlikely to be the last time Rishi Sunak faces difficult questions about those he’s chosen for high office.

The sacking of Nadhim Zahawi as Tory party chairman over a penalty he was forced to pay to HMRC dominates Monday's papers.

"Rotten To The Core" is how the Daily Mirror, external describes the Conservative party, branding Rishi Sunak a "dithering leader" who "finally" made the decision to sack the Tory chairman after weeks of reports about his tax affairs.

The Independent also asks, external why it took so long - considering it started covering the story more than six months ago. But a friend of Sunak's tells the Times, external the PM "won't hesitate to act when there's impropriety" and that he plans to take a "zero-tolerance approach to future breaches of the ministerial code".

The Times also suggests, external Zahawi is "furious" about his firing - and is considering issuing a formal response to the report by Sunak's ethics chief, Sir Laurie Magnus, which sealed his fate. According to the Daily Telegraph, external, he was given "one 30-minute meeting to defend himself".

But the Sun says, external Zahawi only has himself to blame, criticising him for taking an "undignified swipe" at the press for covering the story.

Good morning, and welcome. We're covering the fallout from the sacking of Conservative Party chair Nadhim Zahawi – following weeks of revelations about his tax affairs.

Here's a little reminder as to where we are:

• PM Rishi Sunak sacked him on Sunday after an independent inquiry found that Zahawi had breached the ministerial code
• Sunak had previously ordered an investigation after it emerged Zahawi paid a penalty to HMRC while he was chancellor, over previously unpaid tax

• Opposition parties said that Sunak had been slow to act, and Labour said the government was "mired in sleaze"

Stick with us for the latest reaction and developments.

We're pausing our live coverage of Zahawi's sacking for now - thanks for joining us.

Here are the key takeaways from the day's events so far:

• Nadhim Zahawi has been sacked from government. He was previously the Conservative party's chair. He's still an MP
• Rishi Sunak sacked him after an independent inquiry found that Zahawi had breached the ministerial code
• Sunak previously launched the investigation after it emerged that Zahawi had paid a penalty to HMRC over previously unpaid tax
• The investigation was led by Sir Laurie Magnus, who found that Zahawi had failed to declare conflicts of interests - specifically the fact that he was under investigation by HMRC in 2022 and that he later paid a penalty to HMRC when he was chancellor
• Zahawi's conduct fell short of the high standards expected in government, Sir Laurie concluded
• Reaction has been coming in from other political parties. Opposition parties said that Sunak had been slow to act, and Labour said the government was "mired in sleaze". It has called for Sunak to reveal more details about what he knew and when he knew it
• But the Scottish Conservative party chair said Sunak had acted decisively once it became clear that Zahawi had broken the ministerial code
• The Tory MP who chairs the education select committee, Robin Walker, said it was right that Sunak had sacked Zahawi and commended him for launching the investigation - but added that it was "concerning" it took so long for the details of Zahawi's tax affairs to come to light
• Read political editor Chris Mason's analysis: Zahawi sacking raises questions over Sunak's judgement

Coverage on this page has come from Jen Meierhans, James Harness, Rob Corp, Samuel Horti, Sam Hancock, Nadeem Shad and Krystyna Gajda.

More reaction to Zahawi's sacking now, this time from the Labour party chair Anneliese Dodds, who was effectively Zahawi's opposite number until this morning.

The fact we had a chancellor in charge of the HMRC at the same time as he was negotiating a tax settlement - which was the situation with Zahawi last summer - is "unfathomable", she told journalists.

She accused Sunak of "propping up other ministers who've been... subject to very serious findings", without giving specifics, although earlier in the same interview she mentioned Suella Braverman, who Sunak reinstated as home secretary six days after she broke ministerial rules.

Dodds and Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner have now written to the PM calling for "full transparency", asking Sunak when he became aware of HMRC's investigation into Zahawi's tax affairs, and what due diligence was carried out before Zahawi was appointed party chair.

Earlier, Levelling up Secretary Michael Gove told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that it was important the facts were "investigated fully and properly" before Sunak acted and that the situation had required "cool forensic analysis".

He added that his "understanding" was that there was "no information that was brought to the attention of the prime minister, either Rishi or indeed Liz Truss which would have led them to believe at the time it was inappropriate to have Nadhim on the team".

Zahawi was in both prime minister's cabinets (their top team of ministers).

Image source, PA Media

We've just heard from a former head of the civil service, who was speaking to the BBC News channel about how Nadhim Zahawi's sacking fitted into the Conservative Party's past year.

Lord Kerslake, a crossbench peer in the House of Lords, said PM Rishi Sunak "should've acted sooner".

He wasn't entirely blaming Sunak: he said the PM should be able to "rely on his ministers to be transparent and stick to the ministerial code".

This was lost during the Boris Johnson years, he said - adding that Sunak was "struggling to draw a line under the Johnson era and say 'I'm different'".

Asked whether Zahawi's sacking was a watershed moment, Lord Kerslake said it was positive that the PM had listened to his ethics adviser - and he contrasted this to when Johnson rejected the findings of a bullying inquiry into former home secretary Priti Patel.

But, he added, the investigation into Deputy PM Dominic Raab's behaviour is still ongoing.

Lord Kerslake suggested Raab may be better "taking the plunge now rather than waiting for a report" that could force his hand.

Raab has repeatedly denied allegations of bullying.

Image source, PA Media

Nadhim Zahawi has been a senior Conservative politicians for many years - but how much do you know about his back story?

• Zahawi was born in Iraq to a Kurdish family. They fled the country for the UK in the early years of Saddam Hussein's regime
• After studying chemical engineering at University College London, he went into business and in 2000 co-founded polling company YouGov
• He has represented the constituency of Stratford-on-Avon since 2010, and became well-known during the coronavirus pandemic as the minister who oversaw the first vaccine rollout - a project widely judged to have been a success
• In September 2021 he became the education secretary in a cabinet reshuffle
• And he replaced Rishi Sunak as chancellor, in July 2022, after Sunak resigned and called on Boris Johnson to stand down as PM. Just two days into the job, Zahawi joined those publicly urging Johnson to go
• Zahawi ran for the Tory leadership following Johnson’s downfall, but was eliminated early on
• He remained as chancellor for only nine weeks before Liz Truss’s eventual victory in the contest
• Truss gave him a number of junior ministerial roles. After she was ousted as PM amid economic turmoil, and replaced by Sunak, Zahawi was made party chairman in October 2022

Read more here.

Sam Hancock
Live reporter

It's too soon to know how the fallout from Nadhim Zahawi's sacking will further impact the British public's trust in politicians.

What we do know is that, in his investigation, PM Rishi Sunak's independent ethics adviser found that the former Tory chairman showed "insufficient regard for the general principles of the ministerial code and the requirements in particular to be honest, open and an exemplary leader through his own behaviour".

He was also critical of Zahawi for describing new reports about his tax affairs as "smears" and failing to correct the record until January 2023. "I consider that this delay in correcting an untrue public statement is inconsistent with the requirement for openness," Sir Laurie Magnus wrote in his report.

All this comes against the backdrop of already-waning public trust in UK politics, as Ipsos pollster Keiran Pedley reminds us with a striking graph about which professions British people trust to tell them the truth. Published in November, it finds that just 12% of people have faith in politicians to do so.

Could this saga make that figure lower? We'll have to wait and see.

More reaction is coming in to the news that Nadhim Zahawi - previously the Conservative Party chair - has been sacked.

After the sacking, Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine said an investigation was needed into "what was known, and when" about Zahawi's tax affairs.

She also said Zahawi must stand down as an MP.

Zahawi is no longer a member of the Cabinet (the PM's top team of ministers) but he remains an MP in Stratford-on-Avon, where he won a big majority at the last election.

In a letter to Rishi Sunak after his sacking, Zahawi said he would keep supporting the PM from the back benches.

Watch the full clip above, and click here from analysis on Zahawi's position as an MP from the BBC's West Midlands political editor.

Image source, Wikimedia Commons

We're hearing reaction from within the Conservative Party to Nadhim Zahawi's sacking.

Tory MP Robin Walker, who chairs the education select committee, describes the news as "sad" - but says, ultimately, a prime minister must act "if there is anything that does look like a breach of the ministerial code".

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's World This Weekend programme, Walker admits that it's "concerning" how long it took for the full details of Zahawi's tax affairs to come to light - particularly "given some of the roles he's held in that time", including chancellor.

But he also commends PM Rishi Sunak for ordering a thorough investigation into Zahawi by the new independent ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus. "I can understand why the prime minister has had to take the decision he’s taken," Walker says, reflecting on Sir Laurie's findings.

Walker previously resigned as schools minister, under then-PM Boris Johnson, citing a "relentless focus on questions over leadership".

He tells the BBC's Johnny Dymond that issues such as "due process" not being followed has been an issue in previous administrations, and suggests in this case it was.

You can listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds when it airs after 13:00 GMT. Just head here.

A tax lawyer who began to investigate Nadhim Zahawi's tax affairs last year has praised PM Rishi Sunak for "doing the right thing" in sacking Zahawi.

Zahawi paid a penalty in 2022 to HMRC, when he was chancellor, over previously unpaid taxes.

Dan Neidle, cofounder of the think tank Tax Policy Associates, says it's possible Zahawi was initially careless with his taxes in an "understandable way" - it's also possible he was "careless in an outrageous way".

"But the one thing that I've known for certain is that he knew there was a problem, he covered it up, he made statements to papers which were false," Neidle tells the BBC.

Neidle, who is a Labour supporter but insists his investigations are non-partisan, says Zahawi behaved inappropriately towards him during his investigation: "He set lawyers on me... he tried to shut me up."

"Regardless of what happened with the tax, his behaviour... I feel, was a breach of the ministerial code," he adds.

Zahawi has previously denied acting improperly.

If you're just catching up with today's news, then the big headline of the day is that Nadhim Zahawi has been sacked from government.

He was a member of the cabinet (the prime minister's top team) and chairman of the Conservative party - but no longer.

He remains an MP.

• It kicked off around 09:00 GMT, when it became clear Zahawi had been sacked
• Prime Minister Rishi Sunak soon tweeted a picture of the sacking letter. He said Zahawi had breached the ministerial code
• Sunak said his decision to sack Zahawi was the result of an independent investigation, which was ordered after it emerged that Zahawi had paid a penalty to HMRC
• The investigation was led by Sir Laurie Magnus, whose findings were also made public this morning
• Sir Laurie found that Zahawi had failed to declare conflicts of interests - specifically over the fact that he was under investigation by HMRC in 2022, and that he later paid a penalty to HMRC
• Zahawi's conduct fell short of the high standards expected in government, Sir Laurie concluded
• Reaction has been coming in from other political parties. Opposition parties said that Sunak had been slow to act over the affair, and Labour said the government was "mired in sleaze"
• But the Scottish Conservative party chair said Sunak had acted decisively once it became clear that Zahawi had broken the ministerial code
• The government has always maintained that Sunak avoids rash decisions, and waits for the full findings of investigations first

Keep scrolling for more detail on everything that's happened, why it's important, and what questions it raises for the prime minister.

Elizabeth Glinka
West Midlands Political Editor, BBC Midlands

Nadhim Zahawi has long been a popular figure in the region. Even opposition MPs will tell you privately, on a personal level at least, that they like him. Discussing this situation in the last couple of weeks, one senior Labour figure described him as a “nice guy” who had behaved “incredibly stupidly”.

Over the last week the reaction of Zahawi’s constituents in Stratford-on-Avon has ranged from unsurprised to outright anger.

On paper, the now former Conservative Party chairman’s seat is very safe, with a majority of almost 20,000.

There is no suggestion, at this stage, that he is planning to stand down at the next general election, expected before the end of 2024.

However, there are local elections coming in May and the Liberal Democrats have made it clear that Stratford District Council is at the top of their target list in the Midlands.

Could this give them a platform to have a tilt at the parliamentary seat?

The Lib Dems have a history of performing well in areas where the behaviour of sitting Conservatives has come into question, most notably in North Shropshire.

The Conservatives had an even bigger majority there before the by-election in December 2021, triggered by the resignation of Owen Paterson, who’d broken the rules on paid lobbying.

General elections, though, are a different ball-game.

Image source, UK Gov

The BBC's political editor Chris Mason has written a full analysis of this morning's events - and the questions they raise about Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's judgement.

Below is a snippet of the analysis, which you can read in full here.

Nadhim Zahawi's future in government had been looking increasingly precarious for days.

He is widely liked and respected by his colleagues: his life story of arriving in the UK as a child, not speaking English, rising to become a multi millionaire and a cabinet minister.

But what was increasingly striking is almost all the Conservative MPs and ministers I spoke to privately would say this, and then add a colossal "but".

They found his tax affairs, what they perceived (and the prime minister's ethics adviser has now concluded) to be his lack of openness and candour inexplicable, other worldly and an oxygen snatcher from everything else the government was trying to do.

There are those within government who believe Rishi Sunak was "too nice", as one put it to me over Mr Zahawi, and should have sacked him a week ago.

And then there is the bigger question about Mr Sunak's judgement - should he have appointed any of these ministers in the first place?

Image source, PA Media

We've been bringing you reaction to Zahawi's sacking from opposition parties, who have criticised Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for not sacking Zahawi sooner.

We've now heard from Craig Hoy, the chairman of the Scottish Conservative party, who was on the BBC's Sunday show.

He says Sunak has made the right decision.

Sunak "acted decisively" when he found out, from his independent ethics adviser, that Zahawi had broken the ministerial code, Hoy said.

It emerged two weeks ago that Zahawi had paid a penalty to HMRC when he was chancellor, over unpaid tax.

Pressed on why it took Sunak until now to dismiss Zahawi, Hoy defended the prime minister. The sacking "hasn't been hanging around for months", he said.

He pointed out that Sunak had insisted he was unaware of those tax issues when he appointed Zahawi.

Image source, UK Government

Nadhim Zahawi, who was sacked this morning, came under pressure over his financial affairs after it emerged he had paid a penalty to HMRC while he was chancellor.

The issue dates all the way back to 2000.

• Nadhim Zahawi co-founded YouGov in 2000 - which became a public company in 2005
• Zahawi was chief executive of the polling company until 2010, at which point he was elected for Stratford-upon-Avon at the general election
• On 5 July 2022, Zahawi became chancellor under then-PM Boris Johnson. It was during this period that Zahawi entered into a multi-million pound tax settlement with HMRC, related to shares in YouGov
• On 25 October 2022 new prime minister Sunak appointed Zahawi as the chairman of the Conservative Party. It is not clear what he knew about Zahawi's tax issues at the time
• On Monday, after news of the 2022 penalty emerged, Sunak announced that he'd asked his independent ethics adviser to look into Zahawi's tax affairs
• Today, he was sacked by PM Rishi Sunak, who said the investigation had found serious breaches of the ministerial code, including a failure to declare the penalty that Zahawi paid to HMRC

This morning has been a tale of three letters.

The first - Rishi Sunak's letter sacking Nadhim Zahawi, which said it was "clear that there has been a serious breach of the Ministerial Code".

The second - Zahawi's response letter, in which he didn't mention that breach at all.

And the third - the letter that prompted the sacking, from Sir Laurie Magnus, the PM's independent ethics adviser. The letter laid out the ways in which Zahawi's conduct had fallen short of the standards expected in government.

Sunak had asked Sir Laurie to launch an investigation after it emerged Zahawi had paid a penalty to HMRC over previously unpaid tax.

• Click here to read the letters in full

Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson says the length of time it took to sack Nadhim Zahawi "speaks to Rishi Sunak's weakness".

Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Phillipson says the government is focused on the interests of the Conservative Party - not the interests of the public.

Downing Street have consistently argued that Sunak shows integrity by following due process, ensuring allegations are fully investigated.

Nick Eardley
Chief political correspondent

Don’t expect a new Conservative chairman imminently.

We’re told by No 10 that there’s no timeline at the moment.

Rishi Sunak apparently wants to make sure he appoints the right person.

He will have to weigh up the different factions in his party and who is best placed to get it on an election footing ahead of local elections in May - and a general election sometime in the next two years.

Image source, Reuters

As we've been reporting, Nadhim Zahawi has been sacked. What next for him?

• He's now no longer in the Cabinet, which is the PM's top team of about 20 people who each have special responsibilities and sit on the front benches in the House of Commons
• Cabinet ministers get about £70,000 on top of their MP salaries - so he'll lose that
• But he is still the MP for Stratford-on-Avon - a post he's held since 2010
• Now Zahawi becomes what's known as a backbench MP - they debate and vote on policy