The newly-appointed Chancellor is estimated to have a fortune of close to £100 million (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)Leading candidates in the race to succeed Boris Johnson were on Monday forced on the defensive over their personal tax affairs and broader appeal to ordinary voters.
As claims of dirty tricks broke out at Westminster, Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi was under pressure to explain his finances after reports that he was facing an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs over tax.
Mr Zahawi has denied the claims insisting he is being “smeared” but pressed on how much he was worth, Mr Zahawi declined to comment, telling Sky News: “I will probably get it wrong”.
The new Chancellor, appointed by Mr Johnson last week before he called on the Prime Minister to quit, co-founded polling firm YouGov and is estimated to have a fortune of close to £100 million. The Financial Times reported that Mr Zahawi has been linked in the past to a company called Balshore Investments, based in Gibraltar, but that Balshore’s stake in the company was sold by 2017-18.
Mr Zahawi denied any wrongdoing, said he was happy to publish his annual accounts and would co-operate with the authorities over his tax affairs. “I was clearly being smeared,” Mr Zahawi told Sky News.
“I was being told that the Serious Fraud Office, that the National Crime Agency, that HMRC are looking into me. I’m not aware of this.
“I’ve always declared my taxes. I paid my taxes in the UK. I will answer any questions HMRC has of me, but I will go further.
“I’m going to make a commitment today: that if I am Prime Minister, I think the right thing to do is to publish my accounts annually. That’s the right thing to do. Because I think we need to take this issue in many ways off the off the table. I will publish my accounts annually. That’s the right thing to do.”
A spokesman for HMRC said it does not comment on identifiable taxpayers.
The claims against Mr Zahawi, pictured below, came as frontrunner Rishi Sunak was reportedly the subject of a 400-word dossier on WhatsApp which accused him of being a liar and admitting in a historic video that he had no working-class friends.
Mr Sunak’s team was also forced to deny links to Mr Johnson’s controversial former aide Dominic Cummings.
Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, a close ally of the ousted Prime Minister, told the Daily Mail: “People have to ask themselves the question: why is Cummings backing Rishi?”
But a spokesman for Mr Sunak said the former chancellor and Mr Cummings, who has led a vocal campaign against his former boss at No10, had not spoken for two years.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Hunt faced awkward questions over his own background as a student at Oxford University and Charterhouse School, and whether he could connect with ordinary voters. The former foreign, health and culture secretary insisted the Conservatives would have a broad appeal under his leadership but added that he would appoint the North-West Tory MP Esther McVey as his deputy.
“I recognise that to be the leader of political party and win elections, you have to have a broad appeal,” he told BBC Breakfast today.
