the family of a black man killed by police in the us city of memphis have welcomed the decision to disband the special crime unit to which the officers belonged. the british prime minister, rishi sunak, has sacked the chairman of his conservative party, nadhim zahawi. mr sunak said in a letter to mr zahawi that it was clear that there had been a serious breach of the ministerial code, which guides ministers on how they should uphold standards. his dismissal comes after an independent investigation of mr zahawi s tax affairs. these have been the subject of growing controversy since it emerged that he had to pay a penalty to the tax authorities. rishi sunak recieved the report from the sir laurie magnus, independent adviser on ministers interests. sir laurie told rishi sunak that certain omissions by nadhim zahawi fell short of the standards set out in the ministerial code. he concluded, i consider that these omissions constitute a serious failure to meet the standards set
immediately respond to this. when facts emerged about the position in which nadhim found himself, the prime minister said, we need an independent investigation. so laurie magnus, who as you pointed out, is the independent adviser on ministerial standards on ethics, was asked to look rapidly at the situation. he concluded his report he wrote to the prime minister, i think early today, and then the prime minister immediately upon receipt but why seven days ago did nadhim zahawi and rishi sunak appear to think that it was ok for somebody who had paid a penalty to the taxman while being the boss of the taxman to stay in post?