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Rishi Sunak defended his decision to launch an ethics inquiry into Nadhim Zahawi rather than sacking him, at Prime Minister’s Questions. <\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Sir Keir Starmer said the PM was “hopelessly weak” for not firing the minister for “seeking to avoid tax”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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“Is he starting to wonder if this job is just too big for him?” asked the Labour leader.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Mr Sunak said it was Sir Keir that was weak because “he has no principles just petty politics”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\n- PMQs: As it happened and reaction<\/li>\n
- Tory MP urges Zahawi to stand aside during inquiry<\/li>\n
- Key questions about Zahawi’s tax affairs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Labour has said Mr Sunak must say whether he has ever paid a penalty to Revenue and Customs, like Mr Zahawi. Downing Street has so far declined to say, calling an individual’s tax arrangements “confidential”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In the House of Commons, Mr Sunak said it would have been “politically expedient” to sack Mr Zahawi as a minister before PMQs got under way at noon but he believed in “proper due process”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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That was why, he said, he had asked ask his ethics adviser to investigate whether the Conservative Party chairman had broken ministerial rules.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Mr Zahawi was chancellor at the time the estimated \u00a34.8m settlement was agreed with HMRC.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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