A very quick guide to Nadhim Zahawi
PA MediaNadhim Zahawi has been sacked as a government minister and chairman of the Conservative Party. If you have not been following the story, here's what you need to know.
He used to be in charge of the UK's tax system
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made him Conservative Party chairman in October, in charge of fundraising and election campaigns. But his highest-profile job was being chancellor - the UK's finance minister - for the final two months of Boris Johnson's time in Downing Street.
His own finances have been in the spotlight
It recently emerged that whilst he was chancellor, he reached a multi-million pound tax settlement with HMRC, the UK's tax authority. It related to the allocation of shares in YouGov, the polling company he set up before he became an MP. Mr Sunak asked a top adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, to investigate, saying there were "questions that need answering".
The investigation has just concluded
Sir Laurie found Mr Zahawi had been in contact with HMRC over his taxes since April 2021, reaching an agreement last August and finalising the settlement in September. But he found Mr Zahawi hadn't done enough to declare this within government, and had failed to be open enough in public about what had been going on. He said this breached the behaviour rules for government ministers.
Rishi Sunak agreed with the inquiry
The prime minister is the only person who can decide whether Mr Zahawi broke the rules. He said Mr Zahawi had committed a "serious breach" of the guidelines and decided to fire him.
He's thought to be a multimillionaire
Mr Zahawi has held several government jobs. Before he was a politician, he was an entrepreneur, once setting up a company selling merchandise for the Teletubbies TV show. It's thought he made the bulk of his fortune, estimated at up to £100m, through setting up YouGov.
He was a child refugee from Saddam Hussein
Born in Baghdad to an influential Kurdish family in 1967, he fled Iraq with them at the age of nine. He grew up in Sussex and went to university in London, before following his father into business. He later worked for ex-Tory MP and bestselling novelist Lord Archer during his failed campaign to become London mayor.
There are still questions for Mr Sunak
The prime minister says he followed "the right process" by asking Sir Laurie to investigate, and acted "pretty decisively" when his inquiry finished. But opposition parties have questioned whether the inquiry was necessary, saying he should have sacked Mr Zahawi before. And they say Mr Sunak still has questions to answer about exactly what he knew before appointing him Tory chairman.