Oxfordshire’s MPs have reacted to former Tory chairman Nadhim Zahawi’s sacking following an ethics inquiry and several days of intense pressure.

The Prime Minister dismissed Mr Zahawi who was also in the Cabinet as minister without portfolio, saying that with the inquiry concluded "it is clear that there has been a serious breach of the ministerial code".

The controversy had centred on a tax bill over the sale of shares in YouGov, the polling firm Mr Zahawi founded.

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The shares, worth an estimated £27 million, were held by Balshore Investments, a company registered offshore in Gibraltar and linked to Mr Zahawi's family.

In a tweet earlier today MP for Oxford East Anneliese Dodds wrote: “Why did Rishi Sunak take an age to act?

“What did he know about Zahawi’s tax affairs and the HMRC investigation?

“Why did he appoint Zahawi to cabinet to begin with? Weak, weak, weak from this conservative prime minister.”

MP for Oxford West and Abingdon Layla Moran took to twitter to attack the former chairman and Prime Minister too: “Rishi Sunak has said nothing at all about Zahawi’s shameful attempts to muzzle journalists and campaigners through threats of legal action.

“Instead, Zahawi has refused to apologise and doubled down by using his resignation letter to attack the media.

“This glaring omission raises serious unanswered questions.

“Did Zahawi inform the attorney general of these legal proceedings as he would be required to under the ministerial code?

“What action is the government taking to prevent cabinet ministers behaving in this way in future?

“We need a proper independent inquiry to get to the bottom of this scandal.

“This whole sorry episode has shown the critical role the media and campaigners play in holding ministers to account.

“They never should have to battle threats of legal action to investigate the truth.”

The controversy predated Mr Sunak's premiership, but as more information emerged in the media, the Prime Minister ordered an investigation by his independent adviser on ministers' interests, Sir Laurie Magnus.

Those findings were published on January 29, 2023, and set out a clear timeline, previously not fully known, of events that had been taking place.

In an interview with Sky News, Mr Zahawi said that he was being "smeared".

"I was clearly being smeared. I was told that the Serious Fraud Office, the National Crime Agency, HMRC, were looking into me.

"I'm not aware of this. I've always declared my taxes - I've paid my taxes in the UK," he said.”

Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats said it is vital that the public gets answers about what and when Mr Sunak knew about the controversy.

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1