BreakingRishi Sunak: Zahawi sacked after 'serious breach of ministerial code'
In his letter sacking Nadhim Zahawi, PM Rishi Sunak said the Tory chair had committed a "serious breach of the Ministerial Code".
Sunak launched an independent ethics inquiry after it emerged that Zahawi had paid a penalty to HMRC over his taxes when he was chancellor.
That inquiry has concluded and Sunak is sacking Zahawi as a result of its findings.
Full text of the letter to follow.
Who is Nadhim Zahawi?
PA MediaCopyright: PA Media
Nadhim Zahawi has been sacked by PM Rishi Sunak.
Here’s a quick look at Zahawi's life:
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 onBoris Johnson to stand down as PM. But - 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. Aftershe was ousted as PM amid economic turmoil, and replaced by Sunak, Zahawi was made party chairman in October 2022
Kuenssberg asks why the PM felt that it was OK for Zahawi to stay in post after it emerged he had paid a tax penalty.
Gove says it was important to make sure all the facts were fully investigated rather than rushing to judgement
"Nadhim is a friend of mine so I can't take any joy in the fact that these events have played out today in the way that they have," he says.
He believes Zahawi co-operated fully with the investigation and hid nothing. The prime minister's letter and the decision speaks for itself as to how serious the matter is, Gove says.
BBCCopyright: BBC
Zahawi sacked: What happened when in row over his taxes?
ReutersCopyright: Reuters
Here's a timeline.
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
He joined Theresa May's government in the 2018 reshuffle as children's minister
Zahawi became business minister in 2020, under Boris Johnson - and was later given responsibility for delivering the Covid-19 vaccine programme
On 5 July 2022, Zahawi became chancellor, after the resignation of Rishi Sunak from that role. It was during this period that Zahawi entered into a multi-million pound tax settlement with HMRC - including a penalty
Zahawi supported Liz Truss in the first Tory leadership contest of 2022, and then backed Rishi Sunak's bid to be leader
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 - which Zahawi later described as an error that was"careless and not deliberate"
On Monday, 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
Gove asked: Shouldn't Zahawi have gone earlier?
The BBC's Laura Kuenssberg begins her morning show with an interview with Levelling-up Secretary Michael Gove - she asks him why Nadhim Zahawi has been sacked. Shouldn't he have gone earlier?
Gove says that when facts emerged about Zahawi's tax affairs, Rishi Sunak called for an independent investigation.
He received the conclusion of that investigation this morning, Gove says.
"Immediately on receipt of the letter decided Nadhim could no longer stay in the cabinet," he says.
Nadhim Zahawi, the Conservative party chairman, has been sacked after weeks of pressure over his taxes.
Follow for more updates as we get them.
On the air
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg is live now on BBC One, the BBC News Channel, iPlayer and here on this page.
Before the first of this week’s main interviews the panel of Mary Bousted, Michel Barnier and Katharine Birbalsingh will give Laura Kuenssberg their take on the major issues of the moment.
After that we’ll hear from Levelling-up Secretary Michael Gove.
All this and more to come in the next hour.
Watch live from 09:00 GMT
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg is due at the top of the hour, and wherever you are in the world you can watch the programme without leaving this page by clicking on the play button in the picture above.
Stay with us for the latest news lines, quotes, and video clips as we follow the show - which features this week Levelling-up Secretary Michael Gove, US ambassador to the UK Jane Hartley and Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson.
We’ll also hear from the EU’s former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, National Education Union joint general secretary Mary Bousted and educationalist Katharine Birbalsingh.
Gove here for Kuenssberg show
PACopyright: PA
Levelling-up Secretary Michael Gove has arrived at the BBC's New Broadcasting House in central London for Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
We'll bring you what he has to say a bit after 9am..
Thousands of teachers to strike in England and Wales
This coming Wednesday, children across England and Wales are set to miss a day of school as teachers belonging to the National Education Union stage their first of seven planned one-day strikes.
The NEU - whose joint general secretary Mary Bousted is on the Kuenssberg panel - is taking strike action as part of a dispute over pay. Teachers had a 5% rise last year, but the union says that with inflation in the UK of around 10%, that constitutes a real-terms pay cut.
As well as 1 February, national strikes are scheduled for 15 and 16 March. There are several regional dates too.
The NEU is the UK's largest education union, and says the strike will affect 23,400 schools in England and Wales.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan says she plans to meet union leaders later this week.
Head teachers are expected to take "all reasonable steps" to keep schools open for as many pupils as possible during a strike, according to Department for Education guidance.
Government guidance ‘partly to blame’ for Grenfell fire – Gove
PA MediaCopyright: PA Media
Flawed government guidance on building standards was partly to blame for the Grenfell Tower fire, Housing Secretary Michael Gove says in an interview with the Sunday Times.
He believes the system of regulation was "faulty and ambiguous" and not policed properly by the government.
Gove says there was also an "active willingness" on the part of developers to endanger lives for profit.
The government had previously changed the wording of technical advice that had been criticised, for not making it clear that combustible cladding panels should not be used on tall buildings.
In the interview he says he now accepts the guidance was wrong:
"Yes. The government did not think hard enough, or police effectively enough, the whole system of building safety."
The inquiry into the 2017 fire - in which 72 people died - has closed and is expected to report later this year.
What is levelling up and who is it helping?
The first guest on this morning's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg is the cabinet minister responsible for the government's levelling up scheme, Michael Gove.
Dozens of schemes across the UK have been awarded funding as part of the government project.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says its aim is "to create jobs, drive growth, and make sure that people feel enormous pride in the places that they call home".
But critics say it doesn't make up for the big cuts in local council funding under the Conservatives.
The Levelling Up Fund awarded £1.7bn to projects in October 2021 and another £2.1bn in January 2023.
The North West of England got the most money in both rounds of funding. In the latest round, the South East came second, prompting questions about why it was benefitting.
The government has highlighted funding per head of population. If you look at the funding awards this way, the North of England clearly does better than the South of England.
The BBC’s Reality Check team have analysed the fairness of the project, and asked whether some places have been left behind. You can read their analysis here.
Have Sunak's first 100 days been calm or 'cringe'?
Laura Kuenssberg
Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
ReutersCopyright: Reuters
First impressions matter, and the first 100 days for any leader set the terms for success or failure - just ask Liz Truss.
In a few days Rishi Sunak will hit that milestone - so how has he fared?
With time on his hands when he lost last summer's leadership election to Ms Truss, he was more concerned with clocking up a different kind of century - trying out for his local North Yorkshire cricket team.
The team insisted he fight for a place on the pitch.
Sadly for his amateur cricket career, Ms Truss' political operation blew up not long after it began. So instead of going into bat for the Kirby Sigston first XI, he came to the political crease in the middle of economic and political carnage.
It wasn't just the fever dream of Ms Truss' time in office, but the preceding months and months and months of Conservative meltdown that eventually resulted in the removal of Boris Johnson. Prime Minister Sunak's first task was to cool the temperature and prove to the financial markets that Britain was not quickly becoming a basket case.
Mr Sunak put the brakes on that slide to chaos. As one senior MP says: "Stability, calm, competence - that was the obvious necessary task, and he has responded well to that."
His backers underline how that could never be taken for granted after the turmoil of the autumn. But one former minister wonders whether, now stability is back, can Mr Sunak "get things done" and "can he win?".
Johnson was told to stop asking Sharp for loan advice
Iain Watson and Ione Wells
BBC political correspondents
BBCCopyright: BBC
Links between Boris Johnson and Richard Sharp are under fresh scrutiny again today, following a report that the then-prime minister was told to stop asking the incoming BBC chairman for financial "advice".
Mr Sharp's appointment is under review following successive reports in the Sunday Times that he helped Mr Johnson secure a loan before getting his job. The paper's latest story cites a leaked Cabinet Office memo from December 2020. Officials have declined to comment. Both men deny any wrongdoing.
They have separately said that Mr Sharp was not involved in arranging a loan for the then-prime minister, and say that neither man acted with any conflict of interest.
In the wake of the Sunday Times's fresh report, a spokesman for Mr Johnson insisted to the BBC that he had never received or sought financial advice from Mr Sharp.
The BBC chairman has resisted calls to stand down from his job - saying he expects to be exonerated, as he was appointed "on merit".
No single story stands out as a lead for the Sunday papers. The Sunday Times leads on a story about one of our Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg guests - Michael Gove.
The paper says the Housing and Levelling-up Secretary is the first minister to concede that government shares some of the blame for the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in west London. Gove says government guidance on building materials "allowed unscrupulous people to exploit a broken system".
Elsewhere, the Sunday Telegraph reports that thousands of patients will receive health care via video link. It’s one element of the government’s plans to ease pressure on the NHS in England. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is due to set out his plan to deal with the crisis in the health service on Monday.
The Daily Star Sunday warns that Britain faces a blast of weather from the Arctic - and terms the new weather phenomenon a “dumpin’ donut”.
l-r Mary Bousted; Michel Barnier; Katharine BirbalsinghImage caption: l-r Mary Bousted; Michel Barnier; Katharine Birbalsingh
As well as the main guests, Laura Kuenssberg will be joined by a panel of three key players who bring their own opinions and expertise to bear on the issues of the day and the interviews on the programme.
This week she’s joined by the former EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, joint general secretary of the National Education Union Mary Bousted and the founder and head teacher of London’s Michaela Community School, Katharine Birbalsingh.
There was a time when Michel Barnier was seldom out of the headlines. As the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator he became a household name as the very public face of the union British voters had chosen to leave. Following his time as a leading Eurocrat, Barnier has re-engaged with French politics - at one point being considered the potential centre-right candidate to take on Emmanuel Macron at last year’s presidential election.
Mary Bousted leads the National Education Union - whose members in England and Wales are going on strike this week. Bousted started her career teaching English in secondary schools before going into higher education where she ran teacher-training courses. She was previously general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers - one of the two unions which merged to form the NEU.
Katharine Birbalsingh is a former chair of the government’s Social Mobility Commission but is best known for being the head teacher and co-founder of Michaela Community Free School in north-west London. Her approach to education - believing in traditional teaching methods and discipline - generates strong reactions from all sides.
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage
BBCCopyright: BBC
Welcome to our live coverage in text and video of this week’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
With teachers across England and Wales set to strike on Wednesday, and thousands of children told to stay at home, Kuenssberg will hear from Levelling-up Secretary Michael Gove and Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson.
Also on the show is the US ambassador to the UK, Jane Hartley. With the US and UK both pledging modern tanks to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s invading forces, will we hear her view on how much more the West can do to support the government of President Volodymyr Zelensky?
All that and more to come when the programme goes on air at 09:00 GMT.
Live Reporting
Edited by Heather Sharp
All times stated are UK
BreakingRishi Sunak: Zahawi sacked after 'serious breach of ministerial code'
In his letter sacking Nadhim Zahawi, PM Rishi Sunak said the Tory chair had committed a "serious breach of the Ministerial Code".
Sunak launched an independent ethics inquiry after it emerged that Zahawi had paid a penalty to HMRC over his taxes when he was chancellor.
That inquiry has concluded and Sunak is sacking Zahawi as a result of its findings.
Full text of the letter to follow.
Who is Nadhim Zahawi?
Nadhim Zahawi has been sacked by PM Rishi Sunak.
Here’s a quick look at Zahawi's life:
Read more here.
Nadhim is a friend of mine - Gove
Kuenssberg asks why the PM felt that it was OK for Zahawi to stay in post after it emerged he had paid a tax penalty.
Gove says it was important to make sure all the facts were fully investigated rather than rushing to judgement
"Nadhim is a friend of mine so I can't take any joy in the fact that these events have played out today in the way that they have," he says.
He believes Zahawi co-operated fully with the investigation and hid nothing. The prime minister's letter and the decision speaks for itself as to how serious the matter is, Gove says.
Zahawi sacked: What happened when in row over his taxes?
Here's a timeline.
Gove asked: Shouldn't Zahawi have gone earlier?
The BBC's Laura Kuenssberg begins her morning show with an interview with Levelling-up Secretary Michael Gove - she asks him why Nadhim Zahawi has been sacked. Shouldn't he have gone earlier?
Gove says that when facts emerged about Zahawi's tax affairs, Rishi Sunak called for an independent investigation.
He received the conclusion of that investigation this morning, Gove says.
"Immediately on receipt of the letter decided Nadhim could no longer stay in the cabinet," he says.
Zahawi sacked: Read the PM's letter in full
BreakingNadhim Zahawi sacked
Nadhim Zahawi, the Conservative party chairman, has been sacked after weeks of pressure over his taxes.
Follow for more updates as we get them.
On the air
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg is live now on BBC One, the BBC News Channel, iPlayer and here on this page.
Before the first of this week’s main interviews the panel of Mary Bousted, Michel Barnier and Katharine Birbalsingh will give Laura Kuenssberg their take on the major issues of the moment.
After that we’ll hear from Levelling-up Secretary Michael Gove.
All this and more to come in the next hour.
Watch live from 09:00 GMT
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg is due at the top of the hour, and wherever you are in the world you can watch the programme without leaving this page by clicking on the play button in the picture above.
Stay with us for the latest news lines, quotes, and video clips as we follow the show - which features this week Levelling-up Secretary Michael Gove, US ambassador to the UK Jane Hartley and Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson.
We’ll also hear from the EU’s former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, National Education Union joint general secretary Mary Bousted and educationalist Katharine Birbalsingh.
Gove here for Kuenssberg show
Levelling-up Secretary Michael Gove has arrived at the BBC's New Broadcasting House in central London for Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
We'll bring you what he has to say a bit after 9am..
Thousands of teachers to strike in England and Wales
This coming Wednesday, children across England and Wales are set to miss a day of school as teachers belonging to the National Education Union stage their first of seven planned one-day strikes.
The NEU - whose joint general secretary Mary Bousted is on the Kuenssberg panel - is taking strike action as part of a dispute over pay. Teachers had a 5% rise last year, but the union says that with inflation in the UK of around 10%, that constitutes a real-terms pay cut.
As well as 1 February, national strikes are scheduled for 15 and 16 March. There are several regional dates too.
The NEU is the UK's largest education union, and says the strike will affect 23,400 schools in England and Wales.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan says she plans to meet union leaders later this week.
Head teachers are expected to take "all reasonable steps" to keep schools open for as many pupils as possible during a strike, according to Department for Education guidance.
Government guidance ‘partly to blame’ for Grenfell fire – Gove
Flawed government guidance on building standards was partly to blame for the Grenfell Tower fire, Housing Secretary Michael Gove says in an interview with the Sunday Times.
He believes the system of regulation was "faulty and ambiguous" and not policed properly by the government.
Gove says there was also an "active willingness" on the part of developers to endanger lives for profit.
The government had previously changed the wording of technical advice that had been criticised, for not making it clear that combustible cladding panels should not be used on tall buildings.
In the interview he says he now accepts the guidance was wrong:
"Yes. The government did not think hard enough, or police effectively enough, the whole system of building safety."
The inquiry into the 2017 fire - in which 72 people died - has closed and is expected to report later this year.
What is levelling up and who is it helping?
The first guest on this morning's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg is the cabinet minister responsible for the government's levelling up scheme, Michael Gove.
Dozens of schemes across the UK have been awarded funding as part of the government project.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says its aim is "to create jobs, drive growth, and make sure that people feel enormous pride in the places that they call home".
But critics say it doesn't make up for the big cuts in local council funding under the Conservatives.
The Levelling Up Fund awarded £1.7bn to projects in October 2021 and another £2.1bn in January 2023.
The North West of England got the most money in both rounds of funding. In the latest round, the South East came second, prompting questions about why it was benefitting.
The government has highlighted funding per head of population. If you look at the funding awards this way, the North of England clearly does better than the South of England.
The BBC’s Reality Check team have analysed the fairness of the project, and asked whether some places have been left behind. You can read their analysis here.
Have Sunak's first 100 days been calm or 'cringe'?
Laura Kuenssberg
Presenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
First impressions matter, and the first 100 days for any leader set the terms for success or failure - just ask Liz Truss.
In a few days Rishi Sunak will hit that milestone - so how has he fared?
With time on his hands when he lost last summer's leadership election to Ms Truss, he was more concerned with clocking up a different kind of century - trying out for his local North Yorkshire cricket team.
The team insisted he fight for a place on the pitch.
Sadly for his amateur cricket career, Ms Truss' political operation blew up not long after it began. So instead of going into bat for the Kirby Sigston first XI, he came to the political crease in the middle of economic and political carnage.
It wasn't just the fever dream of Ms Truss' time in office, but the preceding months and months and months of Conservative meltdown that eventually resulted in the removal of Boris Johnson. Prime Minister Sunak's first task was to cool the temperature and prove to the financial markets that Britain was not quickly becoming a basket case.
Mr Sunak put the brakes on that slide to chaos. As one senior MP says: "Stability, calm, competence - that was the obvious necessary task, and he has responded well to that."
His backers underline how that could never be taken for granted after the turmoil of the autumn. But one former minister wonders whether, now stability is back, can Mr Sunak "get things done" and "can he win?".
Johnson was told to stop asking Sharp for loan advice
Iain Watson and Ione Wells
BBC political correspondents
Links between Boris Johnson and Richard Sharp are under fresh scrutiny again today, following a report that the then-prime minister was told to stop asking the incoming BBC chairman for financial "advice".
Mr Sharp's appointment is under review following successive reports in the Sunday Times that he helped Mr Johnson secure a loan before getting his job. The paper's latest story cites a leaked Cabinet Office memo from December 2020. Officials have declined to comment. Both men deny any wrongdoing.
They have separately said that Mr Sharp was not involved in arranging a loan for the then-prime minister, and say that neither man acted with any conflict of interest.
In the wake of the Sunday Times's fresh report, a spokesman for Mr Johnson insisted to the BBC that he had never received or sought financial advice from Mr Sharp.
The BBC chairman has resisted calls to stand down from his job - saying he expects to be exonerated, as he was appointed "on merit".
What’s making Sunday’s papers?
Rob Corp
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
No single story stands out as a lead for the Sunday papers. The Sunday Times leads on a story about one of our Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg guests - Michael Gove.
The paper says the Housing and Levelling-up Secretary is the first minister to concede that government shares some of the blame for the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in west London. Gove says government guidance on building materials "allowed unscrupulous people to exploit a broken system".
Elsewhere, the Sunday Telegraph reports that thousands of patients will receive health care via video link. It’s one element of the government’s plans to ease pressure on the NHS in England. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is due to set out his plan to deal with the crisis in the health service on Monday.
The Daily Star Sunday warns that Britain faces a blast of weather from the Arctic - and terms the new weather phenomenon a “dumpin’ donut”.
Who is on the panel?
As well as the main guests, Laura Kuenssberg will be joined by a panel of three key players who bring their own opinions and expertise to bear on the issues of the day and the interviews on the programme.
This week she’s joined by the former EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, joint general secretary of the National Education Union Mary Bousted and the founder and head teacher of London’s Michaela Community School, Katharine Birbalsingh.
There was a time when Michel Barnier was seldom out of the headlines. As the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator he became a household name as the very public face of the union British voters had chosen to leave. Following his time as a leading Eurocrat, Barnier has re-engaged with French politics - at one point being considered the potential centre-right candidate to take on Emmanuel Macron at last year’s presidential election.
Mary Bousted leads the National Education Union - whose members in England and Wales are going on strike this week. Bousted started her career teaching English in secondary schools before going into higher education where she ran teacher-training courses. She was previously general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers - one of the two unions which merged to form the NEU.
Katharine Birbalsingh is a former chair of the government’s Social Mobility Commission but is best known for being the head teacher and co-founder of Michaela Community Free School in north-west London. Her approach to education - believing in traditional teaching methods and discipline - generates strong reactions from all sides.
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage
Welcome to our live coverage in text and video of this week’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
With teachers across England and Wales set to strike on Wednesday, and thousands of children told to stay at home, Kuenssberg will hear from Levelling-up Secretary Michael Gove and Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson.
Also on the show is the US ambassador to the UK, Jane Hartley. With the US and UK both pledging modern tanks to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s invading forces, will we hear her view on how much more the West can do to support the government of President Volodymyr Zelensky?
All that and more to come when the programme goes on air at 09:00 GMT.