Rishi Sunak came under fire from fellow Tories over his feeble handling of the Nadhim Zahawi dishonesty scandal.
After a fortnight of dithering, the PM finally axed the party Chairman for breaking ministerial rules seven times by trying to cover up the fact he was facing a probe into his tax affairs.
But with his party mired in sleaze, Mr Sunak was branded weak and warned he faces being dragged down by a string of scandals.
It comes as Mr Zahawi refused to apologise and even blamed the press for reporting his rule-breaking.
One Tory MP said: “We picked Rishi as he was supposed to be the new broom to clean up Boris’s mess, but it’s been worse. You cannot move for dirt.”
Michael Portillo insisted the PM should have sacked Zahawi as soon as it became clear he was not being honest, instead of ordering a probe by ethics chief Sir Laurie Magnus.
The Tory heavyweight said: “It pains me to say this, but I think on the whole it makes Rishi look weak. He must have been kicking himself that he decided to refer this to an investigation rather than going with a decision straight away.”
Former Chancellor George Osborne added: “The question for Rishi Sunak was whether his high ratings could pull the Tory party up, or the party’s low ratings would pull him down.
“And at the moment, he is being pulled down by a series of scandals.” Tory MP Lee Anderson compared the government to “the band on the Titanic” which played on as it sank.
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said the “hopelessly weak PM has been dragged kicking and screaming into doing what he should have done long ago”.
She added: “Rishi Sunak shouldn’t have needed an ethics adviser to tell him Nadhim Zahawi’s position was untenable. He continued to prop up the man he appointed to Cabinet.”
The PM told Mr Zahawi he was fired in a letter after Sir Laurie’s probe.
But despite the former minister paying a penalty of close to £1million for not paying enough tax, Mr Sunak heaped lavish praise on him for his “achievements” in Government. Mr Zahawi also gushed about himself in his written reply, which contained no mention of his rule breaking or any hint of remorse. Instead, he said he was “concerned about the conduct from some of the fourth estate” – members of the press who legitimately reported on his actions.
Sir Laurie said in a damning report there had been a “serious failure” by the MP for Stratford-on-Avon to follow the rules on being “open and honest”. While he was Chancellor last summer, millionaire Mr Zahawi paid around £5million to the tax office to settle a dispute, including the penalty. Sir Laurie found he had repeatedly failed to tell officials he was being investigated by HMRC despite the obvious potential conflict of interest.
The ethics chief said even when he started his Cabinet jobs as Education Secretary and Chancellor and had to fill in Whitehall forms that specifically asked about “tax affairs, investigations and disputes” he did not mention it.
Mr Zahawi agreed to pay a penalty to HMRC in August. But he again failed to declare this at the time or later when he was appointed to posts by both Liz Truss and Mr Sunak.
The report also found he had not told the truth last July when he claimed reports that he was being investigated by the tax office were “inaccurate” and “smears”.
In the conclusion of his letter to Mr Sunak, Sir Laurie wrote: “Mr Zahawi’s conduct as a minister has fallen below the high standards that, as Prime Minister, you rightly expect from those who serve in your government.”
Mr Zahawi yesterday faced calls to also stand down as an MP, but insisted he will stay on.
When he became PM last October Mr Sunak promised to lead a government with “integrity, professionalism and accountability” at its heart. But he has since been plagued by scandals, including claims of bullying by ministers. He was also recently fined for not wearing a seatbelt.
