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Former UK chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has joined Reform UK, becoming the biggest Conservative name to defect to Nigel Farage’s populist party as it continues to lead opinion polls.
Zahawi, who briefly led the Treasury in 2022 and was sacked as Tory chair the following year over his tax affairs, claimed that the UK was “sick” as his defection was revealed at a press conference in London.
“You know in your heart of hearts that our wonderful country is sick,” said Zahawi, who in 2023 paid a penalty to HM Revenue & Customs as part of a total settlement of £5mn for unpaid taxes.
Several Tory figures have defected to Reform in recent months, including MP Danny Kruger, deepening unease within Conservative ranks about the prospect of being replaced as Britain’s main rightwing party.
Farage said on Monday that Reform’s “weakness is that we lack frontline experience, I’ve always been very honest about that”.
“People like Nadhim, they’ve been on the inside and they know how government works, or how it does not work.”
Zahawi was chancellor towards the end of Boris Johnson’s premiership in 2022, replacing Rishi Sunak in the role. Less than 48 hours after being appointed, Zahawi called on Johnson to resign, which he agreed to do shortly afterwards.
He has also held roles as the education secretary and as a Cabinet Office minister, as well as various junior ministerial posts.
Zahawi made a fortune in business as founder of the pollster YouGov before his election as Tory MP for Stratford-on-Avon in 2010. He stood down at the 2024 general election.
Sunak sacked Zahawi as Tory party chair in 2023 after revelations that he had failed to pay the full taxes due on money he made from YouGov. Zahawi said the issue was a “careless and not deliberate error”.
Announcing his defection on Monday, Zahawi said: “We can all see that our beautiful, ancient, kind, magical island story has reached a dark and dangerous chapter.”
He urged “others from across all the other parties — and the many millions who thought politics wasn’t for them — to come and join us”.
Farage also attacked the EU on Monday for considering adding a so-called “Farage clause” to its post-Brexit reset deal with the UK.
“You would have to be a prime minister that has no feeling, no understanding of something called the national interest to sign up for something for which we could be punished for if a subsequent election government took a different view,” he said.
Back in 2014, Zahawi said on Twitter that he would never quit the Tory party, saying: “Been a Conservative all my life and will die a Conservative.”
At the same time, he described Farage as “as establishment as they come” and accused the then Ukip leader of making “offensive and racist” comments, adding: “I wld b frightened 2live (sic) in country run by U (sic).”
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”.