UK PM Rishi Sunak fires party chairman over $6m tax bill allegations.

The chairman of the ruling Conservative Party was dismissed by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Sunday for a “severe breach” of ethics in not disclosing a tax dispute.

Nadhim Zahawi was accused of settling a multimillion dollar overdue tax bill while in control of the nation’s Treasury, and Sunak had been under pressure for days to fire him.

After discovering Zahawi had broken the ministerial code of conduct, the prime minister took action. It said he had concealed information about his legal battle with tax authorities and the fact that he had paid a fine.

Sunak claimed in a letter to Zahawi that he was compelled to take action in order to uphold his pledge that his government “will have integrity, professionalism, and responsibility at every level.”

Despite admitting the tax issue, Zahawi maintained that his blunder was “careless and not purposeful.”

Zahawi did not mention the ethics investigation in his statement to Sunak, but vowed to support the prime minister as a backbench politician. His massive tax bill, estimated at around 5 million pounds ($6.2 million), was initially made public by the media, which he lambasted and argued was not always reflecting “legitimate examination of public authorities.”

In the closing months of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s administration, from July to September 2022, Zahawi served as the U.K. Treasury’s chief. He was then named the Conservative Party’s chairman when Sunak assumed office in October.

Following three years of chaos under his predecessors Johnson, who was overthrown by ethical scandals, and Liz Truss, who resigned shortly after her policies shook the U.K. economy, Sunak has vowed to bring order and integrity back to the government.

He requested last week that Laurie Magnus, the government’s standards adviser, look into Zahawi’s tax matters, and he stated that he would wait for the findings before taking any more action.

Magnus concluded in a report made public on Sunday that Zahawi had demonstrated “insufficient consideration” for the need “to be honest, open, and an outstanding leader by his own actions” in public life.

The focus of HMRC’s inquiry into Zahawi, the U.K. tax authority, was the selling of around 27 million pounds’ ($33.4 million) worth of shares in YouGov, the opinion research company he co-founded. Zahawi did not disclose the investigation when he was named Chancellor of the Exchequer more than a year after it started, in April 2021.

According to the Magnus study, it should have been clear right once how terrible the situation was. It claimed that until he verified a settlement had been struck on January 21, Zahawi’s public statements had not reflected this.

Zahawi claimed on Sunday that working for the government had been “the privilege of my life.” The 55-year-old, an Iraqi refugee who fled as a kid to Britain, served as vaccinations minister during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic and afterwards held the position of education minister for nine months.

The Zahawi incident put Sunak’s authority to the test as he deals with an unstable economy and a bitterly divided Conservative Party. There are also ongoing standards investigations into Johnson, who is accused of obtaining a loan with the assistance of a Conservative donor who later became the BBC chairman, and Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister, who is accused of intimidating staff.

According to the rumors, Sunak, a former investment banker who is married to the daughter of an Indian billionaire, is in charge of an affluent administration that is disconnected from the problems of the people.

It was discovered last year that his wife Akshata Murthy failed to pay UK taxes on her foreign earnings, which included 11.5 million pounds in dividends from Infosys, the Indian IT business her father established. Although the approach was lawful, it appeared at best inconsiderate at a time when Sunak, the U.K. Treasury Secretary at the time, was raising taxes for millions of Britons.

Michael Gove, the housing secretary, praised Sunak for his honesty in waiting for the evidence before dismissing Zahawi.

He said on Times Radio that “the electorate will get a chance to give judgment.” “By the time of the next general election, I hope and believe that people will have realized that Rishi Sunak is a person who is truly moral, deeply public-spirited, and committed, above all, to public service.”