Former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi to chair Very Group
- The 56-year-old will replace interim chair Aidan Barclay
Former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has been appointed chairman of the Very Group, which owns the Very and Littlewoods brands.
Zahawi, who has served as MP of Stratford-on-Avon since 2010, revealed last week that he will not seek re-election.
The 56-year-old will take a place on the board and replace interim chair Aidan Barclay.
Former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has been appointed chairman of the Very Group, which owns Very and Littlewoods
Prior to his political career, Zahawi co-founded and was CEO of market research organisation YouGov.
Under his tenure the company expanded to the Middle East and the US, and was listed on the London Stock Exchange.
In office, the Iraq-born MP, who is a patron of economic think tank the Adam Smith institute, had a brief stint as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
His other ministerial roles included acting as minister for Covid Vaccine Deployment during the pandemic, where he helped with the rollout of the vaccine.
In a statement, Aidan Barclay said: ‘With a proven track record in digital growth and innovation, and highly respected in the UK and global markets, [Zahawi] is ideally suited to lead our board as the company enters its next stage of strategic development and growth.’
In February, the Barclay family secured £125million of funding for Very Group from US private equity and the United Arab Emirates.
The Liverpool-based company which specialises in online retail and finance, will receive £85million from Carlyle and £40million from Abu Dhabi-based IMI.
The investment announcement came as the company posted a half year loss of £2million, having made a profit of £2.1million at the same point in 2023.
Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme yesterday, Zahawi apologised for not being ‘more explicit’ over his tax settlement.
Zahawi was fired as Conservative Party chairman by Rishi Sunak in January 2023 after being found to have committed a ‘serious breach’ of ministerial rules.
At the time, it was reported the sum handed over to the tax authorities by Zahawi was at least £4.8million, including a £1.1million penalty.
