Nadhim Zahawi to stand down as Conservative MP at election...

Another rat leaves the sinking ship...

Former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has said he will stand down as an MP at the next election



"My mistakes have been mine," he announced on X in a lengthy statement.

Mr Zahawi was sacked as Tory Party chairman in January last year after an inquiry found he had failed to disclose that HMRC was investigating his tax affairs.

He has been MP for Stratford-on-Avon for 14 years and said it had been his "greatest honour" to serve its people.

Mr Zahawi is the 64th Conservative MP to announce he'll stand down at the next election, and the 104th MP.

Mr Zahawi was education secretary from September 2021 to July 2022 and had a short stint as chancellor of the exchequer between July and September 2022.

In November 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, he was appointed vaccines minister and oversaw the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine programme for nearly a year.

A keen equestrian, Mr Zahawi had to apologise for claiming parliamentary expenses for electricity to supply his stables and a mobile home in the stable yard in 2013, saying he was "mortified by this mistake" and paying back about £4,000.

He began to climb the ministerial ladder when Theresa May made him an education minister and was known as a safe pair of hands.

This opened the door for him to become chancellor when Mr Sunak dramatically quit the role in July 2022, during the mass resignations that forced Boris Johnson out of Downing Street.

Mr Zahawi was given the role due to his robust defence of Mr Johnson but, after a few days, he too called on Mr Johnson to leave.

After unsuccessfully bidding to replace Mr Johnson as the next Tory leader, he backed Liz Truss and then Mr Sunak, who made him Conservative Party chair when he became prime minister.

It was during Mr Zahawi's period as chancellor when questions were raised about the sale of shares in YouGov and whether this was taxed correctly, which eventually led to Mr Sunak sacking him for a serious breach of the ministerial code.

Stratford Can, a group of disgruntled former Conservative members who formed a group intending to run an alternative conservative candidate against Mr Zahawi at the next election, welcomed the move.

Spokesman David Spencer said: "That his resignation statement fails to mention a single meaningful achievement that he has delivered for this town during his 14 years as MP says everything about his negligible tenure as our local MP."

I bet his constituents are heartbroken