NADHIM ZAHAWI has defected from the Conservative Party to Reform UK, becoming Nigel Farage’s highest-profile political recruit to date and delivering a fresh blow to the Tories’ attempts to rebuild after last year’s general election defeat.

The former chancellor, who served briefly in the role under Rishi Sunak, was unveiled at a Reform UK press conference in London on Monday morning alongside party leader Nigel Farage.

Zahawi, who was sacked from the cabinet in 2023 following a dispute with HM Revenue and Customs over his tax affairs, said he had reflected deeply on his time in government and concluded that Britain “needs Reform”.

Speaking to reporters, Zahawi said he could have stepped away from politics altogether, noting that he now chairs one of the UK’s largest retailers. However, he said he felt a duty to act as the country entered what he described as a “dark and dangerous chapter”.

“We can all see that our beautiful, ancient, kind, magical island story has reached a dark and dangerous chapter,” he said. “You know in your heart of hearts that our wonderful country is sick.”

He argued that Westminster had become detached from the lived experience of people struggling to access GP appointments, facing rising taxes, or concerned about freedom of expression and education policy.

Tax row played down

Zahawi was challenged on whether his tax settlement undermined Reform UK’s anti-establishment credentials.

Responding, he said his mistake had been failing to be sufficiently specific with the Cabinet Office about the settlement he reached with HMRC. He did not dispute the findings that led to his dismissal from government.

Farage moved quickly to downplay the issue, saying tax disputes were commonplace among senior business figures.

“There’s nobody with a complex business empire that does not have to have negotiations at some point with HMRC,” he said.

Farage also compared Zahawi’s treatment to criticism faced by Reform’s London mayoral candidate, Laila Cunningham, who was attacked last week over past business failures. In the United States, he said, such failures were often seen as part of the route to success.

Attack on ‘administrative state’

In a wide-ranging speech, Zahawi accepted that the Conservatives bore responsibility for many of the country’s problems, saying he now regretted what he described as the party’s “timidity” in government.

He blamed what he called “over-mighty bureaucratic inertia” for restricting individual liberty and stifling economic growth, arguing that power had drained from parliament to unelected bodies.

While stressing his respect for civil servants as individuals, he said collectively they had turned the UK into “an administrative state”.

Zahawi also criticised Conservative failures on mass migration, defence spending and legislation he described as “virtue signalling”, saying these had provided “painful lessons” that brought him to Reform UK.

Concluding the event, Farage said: “Britain needs Reform.”