Nadhim Zahawi has defected to Reform UK! 🇬🇧

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Nadim Zahari has become the most
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high-profile ex-conservative to join
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Reform UK. But could this latest
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affection backfire on Nigel Farage?
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Zahari came to prominence during the
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pandemic as the minister overseeing the
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successful vaccine roll out. But when
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Johnson's premier collapsed following
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the party gate scandal, the Owen
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Patterson scandal, the Chris Pincher
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scandal, not to mention the scandals
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that never really got going like the
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Downing Street refurbishment scandal, he
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turned to Zahari to replace Rishi as his
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chancellor. But just 48 hours later,
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Zahari was calling on Johnson to resign.
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So his claim to bring experience as a
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former chancellor to reform while
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technically true does somewhat inflate
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his CV. Zahari then stood for the
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Conservative Party leadership but was
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eliminated in the first round of the
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contest which was won by Liz Truss. Then
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he was party chairman under Rishi Sunnak
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but was sacked for failing to declare
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that his tax affairs were being
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investigated by HMRC. He stood down from
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his Stratford or Haven constituency at
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the last election and there reports that
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he's since been refused a Tory periage
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despite begging for one. So, this does
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have the look of another conservative
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with a slightly checkered reputation
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frustrated that he didn't get the
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promotion he felt he deserved, chancing
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his arm with Nigel Farage. And that's
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not really the radical alternative that
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many reform voters want. There's other
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issues here, too. As a close associate
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of Boris Johnson, Zahi must bear his
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share of responsibility, both for the
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utter chaos of that administration, but
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also for the huge wave of postrexit
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legal immigration that many,
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particularly reform voters, claim for a
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lot of our current problems. There's
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also the question of exactly what he's
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been promised. If Zahari's been offered
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the job of Faraj's chancellor in return
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for switching loyalties, that's
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seriously going to ruffle the feathers
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of longerstanding reformers like Richard
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Ty and Zia Yuf. Anyone who's observed
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Farage's career knows that he has
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serious personnel problems, and that's
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made even more likely by the fact that
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Zarawi has passed beef with his new
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leader. He's called Nigel Farage a
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racist and said he'd be scared to live
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in a country led by him. He's also said
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that he'd be a conservative till he
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died. So, people will be rightly and
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fairly asking what's changed. There is a
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flip side to this, too. I've heard
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Zahari speak and his story of arriving
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in this country as a child refugee from
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Iraq who couldn't speak English then
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going on to make millions with his
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Poland company Yugav and then reaching
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the cabinet is truly inspiring. So he is
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well placed to neutralize the idea that
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reform's reasonable concerns about
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migration are somehow racially
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motivated. And unlike the current crop
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of MPs, Zahawi has been inside the very
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top of government and he's dealt with
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civil servants and knows how to get
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things done. We know that policy remains
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Ron reform's biggest weakness. Aside
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from immigration, it's still difficult
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to discern where they stand on foreign
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policy. I mean, closeness to Trump
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increasingly looks like a liability
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rather than an advantage, and
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particularly on the economy. But is a
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man who's been in trouble over his own
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tax affairs really the best guy to tell
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others how much tax they should be
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paying? Let us know what you think in
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the comments below.

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Nadhim Zahawi has defected to Reform UK! 🇬🇧

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