Al-Zahawi, the politician who came to the UK as an Iraqi refugee

Vivian Garcia

LONDON, Jan 29 (EFE) Only 11 years old as an Iraqi refugee.

In a letter released today, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak dismissed Al-Zahawi for violating the government’s “code” of good behaviour, listing him as Minister without Portfolio, after revealing to the press that he had paid a fine to the UK Revenue Service (HMRC). ) for wrongly paying their taxes.

The position of Chairman of the Conservative Party that Zahawi held is an honorary position and was appointed by Al-Sinak himself, who is the real power holder within the political formation.

Al-Zahawi responded to Sunak with a letter in which he expressed concern about “the behavior of some members of the Fourth Hawza in recent weeks,” an apparent reference to the media, but he did not mention the controversy over his tax statement.

The 55-year-old former head of the “Conservative Party” was one of the stars of the party, who managed to reach several ministerial positions, including the head of the economy last year, after he successfully headed the massive vaccination program against Covid-19 in the United Kingdom during pandemic.

I was born in Baghdad

Al-Zahawi was born in Baghdad on June 2, 1967 to a Kurdish family. He arrived in the country as an Iraqi refugee and managed to graduate as a chemical engineer from University College London, one of the best universities, before dedicating himself to the business world and founding the YouGov survey company in 2000.

The politician’s family entered the United Kingdom to escape Saddam Hussein’s regime, but Zahawi’s early years in the country were not easy as he had difficulty speaking English.

Before devoting himself to politics, Al-Zahawi was an advisor to well-known novelist Jeffrey Archer, who was a Conservative MP, and also distributed advertising articles for the successful children’s series ‘Teletabbies’. He also held the position of Chief Strategist at Gulf Keystone Petroleum Group until January 2018.

I entered politics in 2010

He entered politics in the British general election in May 2010, winning the constituency of Stratford-on-Avon in the northwest of England.

Eight years later, then-Prime Minister Theresa May appointed him Under Secretary of State for Children and Families, before taking up the position of Under Secretary of State for Business the following year under Boris Johnson.

Like Johnson, Zahawi supported Brexit in the referendum on whether or not the United Kingdom would leave the European Union in June 2016.

In November 2020, Johnson rewarded him by giving him responsibility for publishing the coronavirus vaccination plan. Later he was Minister of Education and Economy.

With Al-Sinak coming to power in October 2022, Al-Zahawi was appointed Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister without Portfolio, but months later the press revealed the extent of his controversial tax arrangements with the British Treasury.

Controversy over its financial statement

According to what was revealed by the “Guardian” newspaper, Al-Zahawi reached an agreement with the treasury to settle outstanding debts with an additional fee of 30%, for which he paid a total of 4.8 million pounds (5.47 million euros), but after strong pressure from the opposition Labor Party for the resignation or dismissal of the politician The Prime Minister announced his decision today to dismiss him from the government.

In the letter sent by Sinak to Zahawi, the prime minister noted: “It is clear that there has been a serious violation of the ministerial law.”

“When I became prime minister last year, I promised that my government would have integrity, professionalism and responsibility at all levels,” read Sunak’s letter, in which he noted he had asked Laurie Magnus, the independent adviser on the party’s ethical conduct. Ministers, to investigate the matter. EFE

vg/amg

© EFE 2023. Redistribution and redistribution of all or part of the contents of the Efe Services is expressly prohibited, without the prior and express consent of Agencia EFE SA