By dropping Zahawi, Sunak hopes to distance his party from allegations of ongoing scandal
We begin our rundown of British newspapers with an opinion piece by Jim Pickard, chief political correspondent, of the Financial Times, entitled “Can Rishi Sunak outrun the era of Tory malfeasance?”.
And the writer says: “Early Sunday morning, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak received the report that determined the fate of Nazim Al-Zahawi … and confirmed what opposition MPs, much of the media and countless voters had already predicted: the Conservative Party leader did not act in the right way in dealing with his tax affairs.
The writer notes that the findings raise more questions regarding whether Sunak had properly inquired regarding Zahawi’s tax affairs, and whether the prime minister would be able to put an end to years of allegations of “conservative wrongdoing”.
By abandoning Zahawi, Sunak hopes to distance his party from allegations of ongoing scandals. He hopes to shift focus to his priorities of ending the NHS crisis, lowering inflation and dealing with migrants crossing the English Channel.
“However, government insiders admit that they still feel trapped – as one put it – by circulating scandals involving senior Conservative MPs, which predates Sunak’s premiership but continues to undermine it.”
And the writer says: “The Labor Party insisted that Sunak is weak and fails to fulfill his promise to confirm integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level in his government.” October, just days following she breached ministerial law by using personal email to send a draft government statement to a political ally.
The next looming controversy involves Dominic Raab, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, who faces serious allegations of bullying, which he denies, according to the author.
The writer notes that the scandals involving Boris Johnson, who announced in July the decision to step down from the post of prime minister following the rebellion of the Conservative Party deputies, still cast a shadow.
Johnson, who is an MP, is due to be summoned soon to televised hearings as the Privileges Committee investigates whether he lied to MPs regarding the case of civil servants attending parties in Downing Street during the Covid-19 lockdowns, according to the article.
“The committee, which has a Tory majority but is chaired by veteran Labor MP Harriet Harman, is looking into whether Johnson deliberately misled Parliament when he told the Commons ‘all directives were fully followed by staff working in Whitehall at the time’.” .
“If the committee finds that he has contempt of parliament, he may be removed from the House of Commons. If he is suspended for more than 10 days, a ‘petition of no confidence’ can be presented and a possible by-election can take place,” Picard explains.
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The fallout from this case is unlikely to help Prime Minister Sunak
“more difficult”
We move on to an editorial in The Telegraph on the same issue, titled “Tories must show ability to govern effectively”.
“It was a sad end to Zahawi’s career in the cabinet,” says the newspaper. “He deserves credit for his efforts to speed up delivery of Covid vaccines during the pandemic, and his attempts to combine policymaking with implementation were commendable, adding some logic to a system suffering from poor productivity and poor results.”
She adds that given his contribution to the government, Zahawi certainly deserves a fair hearing, and so it is concerning that, as some reports suggest, he feels he has not received it.
And she believes that “the repercussions of this dismissal are unlikely to help the prime minister solve his structural problems, that is, the divided nature of the party he leads. While Al-Zahawi, as a former supporter of Liz Terrace, was appointed to Sunak’s government, others on the party’s right feel increasingly isolated due to the government’s strong defense on tax increases.
The article notes that some Conservative MPs are rebelling on crucial issues. All of which makes the task of governing – and issuing the crucial legislation needed to deal with the array of crises facing the nation – all the more difficult.
And the Telegraph concludes, saying: “There is also the risk that Sunak, by dismissing a minister, has made others more vulnerable to personal scrutiny. As the last years of John Major’s tenure as prime minister showed, the caravan of corruption does not necessarily stop at one point, as it can raid one person “quickly, and simply move on to the next objective with disastrous consequences for the party’s reputation. The best way to avoid this fate is to focus on advancing an agenda that makes such things simple, but the opportunity to demonstrate the ability to govern effectively narrows.”