Tag Archives: Zahawi

Sunak sacks Zahawi: he wouldn’t go so he had to be pushed

Out: Nadhim Zahawi.

This is probably the least interesting political story of the weekend because we all knew it was coming.

Even though Rishi Sunak is a weak prime minister – he has to maintain support from all the different factions of the Conservative Party and that means he has to appease them – Nadhim Zahawi had put himself in an untenable position.

That’s what the ethics advisor, Sir Laurie Magnus, found anyway:

In fact, Zahawi took the opportunity to attack the media, in his letter to Sunak.

Here’s a TV report on this story:

Commentators are saying it is impossible to envision a circumstance in which Zahawi will return to frontline politics.

Good riddance.

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Can SLAPP lawsuits be beaten? Here’s what’s wrong – and what you can do

Nadhim Zahawi.

SLAPP. It stands for “Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation” and refers to the practice of rich and powerful people taking others to court (notably journalists) in order to halt debate about them that is in the public interest and stifle free speech.

Two examples of SLAPP lawsuits are currently in the news: Russian oligarch and warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin’s abortive libel suit against a UK journalist, and Nadhim Zahawi’s attempt to silence another UK journalist who was investigating his tax affairs. This video clip features discussion of Zahawi’s SLAPP suit.

Prigozhin allegedly had help from the UK Treasury (headed at the time by Rishi Sunak) to dodge sanctions that had been imposed against him at the time. He is the founder of Wagner, a private army that is currently understood to be committing atrocities in Ukraine.

Zahawi failed to pay millions of pounds worth of tax after selling shares in polling firm YouGov that had been held by offshore trust Balshore Investments. He came to terms with the Treasury in which he agreed to make a payment – but the fact that he was Chancellor at the time – Treasury officers’ boss – has cast doubt on the ethical integrity of that agreement.

Neither of these cases should have been allowed to start, but they were – and the Prigozhin case left the journalist in question owing around £70,000 in legal fees before it was halted just after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war.

The UK government has previously pledged to give courts in England and Wales new powers to dismiss lawsuits employed by wealthy claimants to stifle free speech, but has yet to put forward any draft legislation.

A Private Members Bill put forward by Conservative Bob Seely has been tabled to concentrate Ministerial minds on the subject.

Quoted in The Guardian, he said, “As a business model, it is a form of legalised intimidation, effectively legal gangsterism” deployed by organised criminals, authoritarian states, oligarchs and corrupt corporations, which “undermines the good reputation of London”.

This Writer tends to agree – especially as I am the victim of a SLAPP lawsuit myself. I am currently appealing against a decision in favour of the Claimant. Details are available here: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/

My defence is crowdfunded, and if you would like to donate and/or encourage others to do so, then please:

Make a donation via the CrowdJustice page. Keep donating regularly until you see the total pass the amount I need.

Email your friends, asking them to pledge to the CrowdJustice site.

Post a link to Facebook, asking readers to pledge.

On Twitter, tweet in support, quoting the address of the appeal.

Use other social media in the same way.

if you’re having trouble, or simply don’t like donating via CrowdJustice, you can always donate direct to me via the Vox Political PayPal button.

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Former Tory chairman says Sunak should suspend Zahawi – but why not ‘drain the swamp’?

Jake Berry: his BBCQT appearance needs to be seen to be believed.

The BBC’s flagship Question Time programme featured an extraordinary display of backstabbing by a Tory MP against his Cabinet replacement.

Former Tory chairman Jake Berry, asked whether his successor Nadhim Zahawi should stay in post after revelations about his tax affairs, started out with a classic ‘resume statement’, praising his party colleague – but then veered off-topic sharply, saying a mechanism should be in place for Zahawi to step back from government while he was being investigated, and be reinstated if vindicated.

It’s not a bad idea but it has been around for some time – it’s called suspension. He would not lose his job as an MP, and could come back later.

Berry then manufactured an argument with Tracy (“Drain the swamp!”) Brabin over the role of independent ethics advisor Sir Laurie Magnus.

Probably the best comment from an audience member came from a GP who said there had been so many similar scandals in the Tory government that it seemed impossible to trust anybody in the party at all.

The debate ranged across all the information that has come out so far and I have tried to ensure that these are all included in the clip, so we can all refer back to it.

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Bullying claims against Dominic Raab now number 24 – and more

Wow. At least 24 civil servants have now complained about bullying by Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, it seems.

Not only that, but there are also inquiries into the behaviour of Nadhim Zahawis (another Cabinet member) and Boris Johnson, a former prime minister.

Rishi Sunak and his Cabinet were apparently having an away day in Chequers to discuss Conservative Party strategies – despite the fact that Parliament was sitting and they were using government property – so one wonders whether he was taking the opportunity to clear the chaff. One suspects not, because he’s too weak.

Enjoy also the pathetic attempt at deflection onto Keir Starmer by Angela Epstein. She reckons he’s not a good leader because he supported Jeremy Corbyn, and brought up the manufactured Labour anti-Semitism crisis as proof. But anti-Semitism in Labour fell under Corbyn – the claims against him were nonsense. Starmer is a rotten leader for reasons entirely due to himself.

As Kevin Maguire points out about her comments: “We’ve got a lousy rotten governent so look over there.”

Here’s a bit more on that Tory strategy meeting, courtesy of A Different Bias:

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Carol Vorderman and Alison Hammond have won politics this week. Here’s how

There’s no news in the following clip, but the commentary by Carol Vorderman and Alison Hammond, from ITV’s This Morning, is priceless.

It’s embedded in the following clip and is priceless:

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James Cleverly on Boris Johnson and Nadhim Zahawi – shifty, unrevealing and untrustworthy

James Cleverly: He was once described as “the Tories’ go-to eejit when they need someone to tweet absolute nonsense or defend the indefensible”.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly did the Sunday morning interview round on January 23, 2023 – meaning he had to field questions about whether Boris Johnson corruptly appointed Richard Sharp as BBC Chairman, and about Nadhim Zahawi’s taxes.

He didn’t have answers about either of them, and instead came across as shifty, unrevealing and untrustworthy.

His responses displayed many characteristics of what police (for example) might describe as untruthfulness, or at least deception.

In this video clip, I have tried to identify at least a few of the tell-tale signs:

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Rishi Sunak asks ethics advisor to investigate Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs

Here’s the current situation: Rishi Sunak has asked his (so-called) independent ethics advisor to “fully investigate” whether Nadhim Zahawi complied with the Ministerial Code in failing to make correct tax payments at the appropriate time.

This will be a big test for Sir Laurie Magnus. Smart thinkers say the purpose of an ethics advisor is to whitewash dodgy behaviour by ministers; if that doesn’t happen, if the decision goes against those in power, then the ethics advisor doesn’t last long in the post. We’ve seen that in recent years.

This is the story so far:

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Nadhim Zahawi’s tax ‘error’ could topple Rishi Sunak’s Tory government

Most people cannot avoid paying tax; it is taken from them automatically, or they face the threat of hefty penalties if they fail to file their tax return properly.

So when they see government officials getting away with apparent tax evasion with only a metaphorical slap on the wrist, they get very angry indeed.

Members of Rishi Sunak’s Tory government have closed ranks around Nadhim Zahawi, claiming that his tax affairs are perfectly in order – even though we know they haven’t been in the recent past.

And ‘Seatbelt’ Sunak himself hasn’t covered himself in glory lately either.

Will the Zahawi affair sink the government? Consider – and enjoy Maximilien Robespierre’s pronunciation of Zahawi’s surname:

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Nadhim Zahawi and tax: watch this clip and ask yourself if you believe him

In an interview last year, Nadhim Zahawi said his offshore investment fund, Balshore, was for the benefit of family members who didn’t live in the UK.

But that raises a question about why he has now “agreed” to pay £3 million to HM Revenue and Customs.

The comment on so-called “SLAPP” lawsuits is very interesting to This Writer, because I’m the victim of what’s considered to be a rather famous SLAPP suit myself. Sadly, that one is going all the way.

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Nadhim Zahawi and tax: remember this

Nadhim Zahawi: waving the flag and (allegedly) fiddling the figures?

If you’re not familiar with the story, here it is.

This comment is well worth adding, though:

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Tag Archives: Zahawi

Sunak sacks Zahawi: he wouldn’t go so he had to be pushed

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Can SLAPP lawsuits be beaten? Here’s what’s wrong – and what you can do

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Former Tory chairman says Sunak should suspend Zahawi – but why not ‘drain the swamp’?

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Bullying claims against Dominic Raab now number 24 – and more

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Carol Vorderman and Alison Hammond have won politics this week. Here’s how

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James Cleverly on Boris Johnson and Nadhim Zahawi – shifty, unrevealing and untrustworthy

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Rishi Sunak asks ethics advisor to investigate Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs

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Nadhim Zahawi’s tax ‘error’ could topple Rishi Sunak’s Tory government

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Nadhim Zahawi and tax: watch this clip and ask yourself if you believe him

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Nadhim Zahawi and tax: remember this

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