New Chancellor Nadim Zahawi says he believes Boris Johnson is ‘honest all the time’ in his first TV appearance since taking office.
Mr Zahawi was appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer last night (July 5) after the resignation of Rishi Sunak. Mr Sunak’s decision to quit came in a double-punch to the PM, who also lost Health Secretary Sajid Javid.
A wave of resignations have followed — including Conservative Party vice-chair Bim Afolami and children’s minister Will Quince — over the Prime Minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher scandal, which Mr Johnson apologised over his handling of.
Now, following the unwanted reshuffle, new Chancellor Nadim Zahawi appeared on Good Morning Britain to defend Boris’ record. During his interview with Susanna Reid and Ed Balls — a former Chancellor himself — he said he trusted his new boss.
When asked by Susanna, presenting at Westminster, ‘do you believe the Prime Minister is honest all of the time?’, Mr Zahawi said: “Yes I do, because I worked for him when we delivered the vaccine programme…”
After more pushing from the veteran anchor, on Mr Johnson’s track record of honesty on partygate and Chris Pincher, Mr Zahawi replied: “This Prime Minister believes in transparency.
“To the best of his knowledge, he came to Parliament and explained what happened in Downing St during lockdown and yesterday came out and apologised and said, ‘I made a mistake.’ I think that’s the right thing to do — that is leadership.”
Mr Zahawi also said that the decision to appoint Mr Pincher to the Whips office was a ‘mistake’ but put it down to making ‘decisions [in] government at warped speed’.
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