it is all overshadowed by personalities? it is all overshadowed by personalities? yes, jane, as ministers personalities? yes, jane, as ministers sit personalities? yes, jane, as ministers sit around - personalities? yes, jane, as ministers sit around that. personalities? yes, jane, as l ministers sit around that table round about now, they want to talk about how they turn their fortunes around in the polls. but the backdrop is pretty difficult for rishi sunak. because those questions that have been swirling around westminster all week are not going away. let s take nadhim zahawi, the tory chairman, first. his hands are largely tied by the investigation that s going on from the pm s ethics adviser. but another intervention this morning that is going to be pretty difficult for mr zahawi. remember, we know, he paid a penalty to settle a tax bill. the head of hmrc, the taxman, has been giving evidence to mps this morning and he says, i can t talk about mr zahawi s case, but you don t
minister s questions mr sunak stood up minister s questions mr sunak stood up and said this matter had been addressed in full by nadhim zahawi. he will not be able to say that today because a lot has changed since. a key question rishi sunak will face is what he knew and when. because my understanding, speaking to people in downing street is that rishi sunak did not know his minister, the man he made tory chairman, had paid a penalty as part of his tax bill until reports emerged over the weekend in the media. i think there will be questions about that and questions about the timeline for rishi sunak, what advice he was given when he made mr zahawi tory chairman. lots of questions being asked. i think the government had hoped that by setting up this probe by the ethics adviser that they would be able to say we need to let that play out, it
sunak did not actually know that the conservative chairman had paid a penalty as part of his tax bill until it came out in the media at the weekend. i think there will be questions about what rishi sunak knew and when, what advice he was given by the cabinet office when he appointed nadhim zahawi to the job as tory chairman. ultimately it is a question about rishi sunak s judgment in appointing nadhim zahawi and keeping him in thejob. we thought he would try and say this investigation is going on so i cannot comment. i am not sure that will cut it this afternoon. nadhim zahawi says he is looking forward to the investigation because he thinks he has acted properly and ultimately wants to keep hisjob he has acted properly and ultimately wants to keep his job and he has acted properly and ultimately wants to keep hisjob and clear his name. wants to keep his “0b and clear his name. .,, wants to keep his “0b and clear his name. , , ., , wants to keep his “0b and clear his name.
moment? ,., ., ., , ~ moment? good morning, sally. ithink it s osition moment? good morning, sally. ithink its position pretty moment? good morning, sally. ithink it s position pretty precarious. - moment? good morning, sally. ithink it s position pretty precarious. and - its position pretty precarious. and i think it already lands with the new ethics adviser. we don t know how long that report will take, it s sort of up to him and it could be days, weeks, it could potentially be months. in that sense it could buy him some time, nadhim zahawi. you got the impression from the prime minister and downing street yesterday that they were pretty unhappy with what had happened. we heard rishi sunak saying that there were questions that needed to be answered by the tory chairman. and we re also told that when rishi sunak stood up at prime minister s questions last week said that mr zahawi had answered all the questions in full, that the prime minister didn t know the full extent of this, he d