This week, solely Nadhim Zahawi has ridden a political rollercoaster to rival the one which ejected Boris Johnson from Downing Road. On Monday, he was the UK’s training secretary — his first cupboard posting. By Tuesday, he had been promoted to chancellor. On Wednesday, he was plotting tax cuts alongside the prime minister. And by Thursday, he had performed a central position in ending Johnson’s premiership.
The 55-year-old’s elevation to the second strongest position in British politics is the newest step in a fast rise that his allies hope might see him develop into Britain’s first non-white prime minister. However some senior Conservatives assume that his fast about-turn towards Johnson will backfire.
Zahawi was born in Baghdad in 1967 to a Kurdish household that fled to Britain when he was simply 9. The long run training secretary didn’t converse any English when he arrived, main his academics to initially worry he suffered from studying difficulties. He was educated at each state and personal faculties, earlier than incomes a level in chemical engineering from College Faculty London.
After graduating, Zahawi went into enterprise, although generally with blended outcomes. Considered one of his much less profitable early ventures was a advertising firm that distributed merchandise for the Teletubbies youngsters’s tv programme. He was additionally an aide to Lord Jeffrey Archer, the previous Tory MP and novelist, together with through the latter’s unsuccessful bid to be mayor of London.
Zahawi started his political profession as a neighborhood councillor within the affluent London borough of Wandsworth. Any nationwide ambitions he harboured took a again seat whereas he targeting enterprise. In 2000, he based YouGov, one of many first polling corporations to concentrate on on-line analysis. However different roles, together with incomes £1.3mn as a marketing consultant to Gulf Keystone Petroleum, have raised eyebrows. It was reported this week that Zahawi was investigated by the Nationwide Crime Company, however no wrongdoing was discovered.
In 2010, Zahawi was chosen for the secure Tory seat of Stratford-upon-Avon. Not like many bold Tories elected when the celebration returned to energy beneath David Cameron, his ministerial profession didn’t take off. One Quantity 10 official who labored with him says: “He was clearly very proficient, however didn’t seize David’s consideration.”
Supporting Brexit within the 2016 referendum, nevertheless, ensured that his standing throughout the celebration rose. A collection of junior ministerial appointments adopted. Nevertheless it was Johnson’s patronage that thrust Zahawi into the highlight as vaccines minister on the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. He was praised by MPs for his calm media performances amid widespread fears of shortages.
He additionally received favour with Whitehall civil servants. One mandarin who labored with him through the pandemic says his sharp concentrate on information was welcome. “As secretary of state, he was consistently asking, ‘What’s the proof? What’s the proof?’ through the vaccine roll out,” the official recollects. “Many different ministers simply do issues merely on intuition.”
Since his elevation to the cupboard as training secretary final September, Zahawi has been marked out as a candidate to succeed Johnson. Like rivals comparable to international secretary Liz Truss and former chancellor Rishi Sunak, he has been schmoozing MPs and making ready for the prime minister’s departure for months.
He has additionally been on a health kick with the management race in thoughts. “He’s operating, actually,” one MP smirks. At working dinners he has taken to consuming half parts.
Zahawi’s marketing campaign will concentrate on three parts, in response to officers concerned: his “phenomenal” back-story; his enterprise hinterland; and his report in authorities. “Quite a lot of his rivals don’t have enterprise expertise earlier than politics, others don’t have the identical degree of supply or authorities expertise both,” says one MP who’s backing him.
However it’s his position within the downfall of Johnson that will decide whether or not he makes it to Quantity 10. When Sunak resigned as chancellor on Tuesday, Zahawi was one of many few credible candidates for the job. A few of his supporters have been upset when he accepted. “We all the time knew that he’s a pleasant man however he has poor political judgment,” one pal says. However others felt he had little alternative. “These positions must be stuffed . . . he may have tried to maintain the present on the highway.”
The day after he arrived on the Treasury, Zahawi was a part of a delegation of ministers who advised the prime minister to go. In an open letter, he wrote that he was “heartbroken” that his pal of 30 years had not heeded his recommendation. “Prime minister, you understand in your coronary heart what the proper factor to do is, and go now.” Johnson acquiesced hours later. “It was Nadhim’s language that lastly received Boris over the road,” says one ally of his position within the regicide.
Though his profile in Westminster has risen considerably in current days, Zahawi’s renown past the world of politics is restricted. The bookmakers’ Ladbrokes put his odds of being the following prime minister as 12/1, behind 5 different contenders, together with Sunak and Truss. His problem is to persuade MPs that he can construct a nationwide following.
However amongst Tory activists, who will in the end select the following celebration chief and PM, Zahawi is effectively appreciated. He’s the celebration’s second hottest determine with a web approval ranking of +66, behind solely defence secretary Ben Wallace, who has chosen to not stand. Paul Goodman, the editor of ConservativeHome, says, “He has a profitable report in enterprise and a profitable report in authorities in delivering the vaccine programme.”
Goodman observes that the upcoming management race is “a lottery”, however provides that if he “will get in entrance of the members he might do effectively”. Whether or not that occurs relies upon first on the votes of fellow Tory MPs, who’re already effectively conscious of his back-story and authorities report. They are going to determine whether or not Zahawi is able to serving to the celebration rebuild after the turmoil of the Johnson period.
sebastian.payne@ft.com