Former Tory Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi Defects To Reform In Major Win For Nigel Farage
Former Conservative chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has defected to Reform UK, in a major win for Nigel Farage.
The ex-MP for Stratford-on-Avon held multiple ministerial positions under the last four Conservative prime ministers and sat in parliament between 2010 and 2024.
He was sacked as Tory chairman by Rishi Sunak in 2023 after he was found to have broken the ministerial code over his tax affairs.
Speaking at a Reform conference on Monday, Zahawi said: “Britain needs Nigel Farage as prime minister.”
He added: “We can all see that our beautiful, ancient, kind, magical island story has reached a dark and dangerous chapter.”
He claimed: “Britain needs Reform.
“My own party, and by definition to some extent me personally, should share some blame for the continuation of the Blairite constitutional vandalism and our failure, to coin a phrase, to take back control from the rich powers of the unelected bureaucracy.
“Now, Conservatives did some important work stabilising the economy in the early years after Tony Blair’s and Gordon Brown’s destructive reign, reforming education and welfare.
“But failures on mass migration, failure to strengthen our armed forces or even protect special forces from insane government lawyers, and bad virtue signalling legislation that has made us less competitive and less prosperous, to name but a few – these have provided me with painful lessons learnt that will, I hope, benefit this great new team.”
Zahawi joins the 22 former Conservative MPs who are now part of Reform.
A former businessman, Zahawi first became a minister in 2018 during Theresa May’s government.
He went on to take a role in the business department, and was appointed as education secretary in 2021, before briefly taking on a role as chancellor during Boris Johnson’s final days in office.
During Liz Truss’s time in No.10, he served as the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and was then appointed to be the Tory Party chair under Rishi Sunak.
However, he was found guilty of breaching the ministerial code in 2023 after he failed to disclose that HMRC was investigating his tax affairs.
He stood down from parliament in 2024 and his seat went to the Liberal Democrats’ Manuela Perteghella.
A Conservative spokesman said: “Reform is fast becoming the party of has-been politicians looking for their next gravy train. Their latest recruit used to say he’d be ‘frightened to live in a country’ run by Nigel Farage, which shows the level of loyalty for sale.
“Reform want higher welfare spending and higher taxes. They are a one-man band with no plan for our country. Under Kemi Badenoch the Conservatives are demonstrating we have the plan, the competence and the team to get Britain working again.”