In another calculated wager for the Tory MP whose willingness to take risks has earned him comparisons to Del Boy from Only Fools & Horses and a candidate seeking to impress Lord Sugar on The Apprentice, Nadhim Zahawi today began his greatest job to yet as Chancellor.
The 55-year-old Tory MP’s ascent to No. 11 Downing Street is remarkable considering that he fled Iraq as a Kurdish refugee at the age of nine and later went on to start the polling company YouGov and amass a £100 million property portfolio.
Although Mr. Zahawi’s “true blood and love was politics,” according to friends, he devoted himself to making a “f**k lot of money” before to being chosen as the Tory MP for Stratford-Upon-Avon in 2010.
He’s a likeable wheeler-dealer type, according to a different friend in parliament, who also added that he has “a little Del Boy about him.”
As he begins his first day as Chancellor, Mr. Zahawi declared that he is supporting Boris Johnson because he is “committed to the country that gave me everything” and denied that he is doing so to advance his own personal desire to become prime minister.
The senior Tory’s life was not always easy. Selling Teletubbies apparel at the height of the show’s prominence was an early business venture that failed, costing investors their money, including former Tory grandee Jeffrey Archer.
However, he would go on to become one of the wealthiest members of the House of Commons after studying chemical engineering at University College London and working with buddy Stephan Shakespeare to found YouGov.
Friends use this tale to explain his philosophy in business and politics. In 2002, he gambled on ITV’s Pop Idol, the most popular programme on television at the moment.
The analysts believed that Gareth Gates would easily win the final matchup between him and Will Young.
Although YouGov polling indicated otherwise, he bet hundreds of pounds on Will Young to win, and when he did, the Chancellor made a fortune by outsmarting bookmakers and pundits.
It reveals a lot about him, according to Joe Twyman, a former YouGov head of political research, who spoke to Politico.
Although he appreciated the showmanship and the enjoyment of it all, he also wanted to make a f*** lot of money.
He truly believed that what we were doing was correct.
In addition to winning the wager, Nadhim utilised to promote YouGov’s credibility and is reported to have made £5.7 million three years later when it floated.
One senior member of the administration described Zahawi as a calculated risk-taker, a description made today when he chose to support Boris Johnson with his presidency in jeopardy.
He is not careless. Before placing a wager, he checks the odds to make sure they are in his advantage, the source claimed.
Peter Kellner, a former president of YouGov, claimed that if Lord Sugar’s game programme The Apprentice had been around in the 1980s and 1990s, he would have been a “ideal” competitor.
He was described as being “extremely smart and shrewd in business terms,” and he said that it was not surprising that he succeeded in his role as the pandemic’s vaccines minister because “the job of the vaccine is like an Alan Sugar challenge writ very large.”
He is currently one of the front-runners to succeed Boris Johnson. Tobias Ellwood, a close friend and vehement opponent of Mr. Johnson, has long declared his support for him if he runs for leader.
According to him, too many Cabinet members hold positions of responsibility that, given the situation since December 2019 and where we are now, may not be appropriate.
“His ascension [to Education Secretary] acknowledges that we have highly qualified individuals inside the ranks of parliament with skill sets that can and should be utilised.”
Mr. Zahawi received a private education at University College London and King’s College School in West London, where he majored in chemical engineering.
One of the richest members of Congress, he later established the successful polling company YouGov and was named “entrepreneur of the year” by Ernst & Young.
His real estate empire is estimated to be worth £100 million.
The father of three was elected to the House of Representatives in 2010 and became the first Kurdish Iraqi to do so.
Before entering politics, Zahawi later served as Lord Archer’s assistant.
He initially supported Dominic Raab for Conservative Party Leader in 2019, but has subsequently switched his allegiance to Mr. Johnson.
From January 2018 to July 2019, he served as the children’s minister; at that time, he went to the contentious Presidents Club Ball.
After reports of harassment and sexism at the all-male event for the business elite, he allegedly received a reprimand from the chief whip.
He was made to apologise for using taxpayer funds to heat his stables on his Warwickshire estate during the MPs expenses controversy.
When Mr. Zahawi used a legal loophole to conceal his total earnings last year, he came under new scrutiny today regarding his income from side jobs.
From 2015 until he became a minister, the new chancellor made more than £1.3 million from his employment with Gulf Keystone, which is listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange.
However, the amount of money he has made from side employment since becoming an MP in 2010 is unknown because he channelled it through the consultancy Zahawi and Zahawi, which he founded with his wife Lana before to winning the 2010 election for the Stratford seat.
No indication exists that any regulations or laws have been broken. Sir Alistair Graham, a former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, however, told the Mirror that this may be seen as a deliberate effort to circumvent the laws so that he is exempt from disclosing the extent of his remuneration as a consultant.
“It is crucial to emphasise that MPs are personally responsible for making sure they abide by both the word and the spirit of the code of conduct.
Constituents have a right to know how much of their time and money is being used for activities unrelated to politics.
The YouGov founder, Mr. Zahawi, who was born in Iraq, was appointed chief strategy officer at Gulf Keystone Petroleum in 2015 and declared outside income equal to a £765,000 annual pay.
He worked between eight and 21 hours each week and was paid £20,125 per month.
In addition, he got a series of incentives from January to June 2016 totalling £78,246.38 as well as a payment of £52,325 for 210 hours of labour completed in September 2015 that was backdated to July of the previous year.
In the past, Zahawi served as an advisor to Afren, an additional oil business that failed in 2015.
He most recently served as the Education Secretary, but prior to that, he was the Minister of Vaccines, where he was successful in leading the Government’s vaccination campaign after being appointed in November 2020.
Hours after Rishi Sunak’s resignation, Mr. Zahawi was named Chancellor. As the embattled Prime Minister’s ally in the midst of the worst cost-of-living crisis in a decade, Mr. Zahawi will now assume one of the most important positions in the government.
As inflation increases, he will also be responsible for putting together a vital autumn budget.
He was appointed to the position of Education Secretary when Gavin Williamson was fired.
Williamson had lost the public’s trust due to the examinations debacle during the Covid-19 outbreak.
His time in the position has not been without challenges, and in recent weeks he has been working to prevent teachers from going on strike, something he has called “unforgivable” months after students started going back to school after the pandemic’s disruption.
Under Theresa May, Mr. Zahawi was appointed as a junior minister of education, but he has never seriously wavered in his support for Boris Johnson.
He made the decision to assume the Chancellor position on Tuesday night in an effort to spare Mr. Johnson from a comedy of errors.