New Reform recruit Nadhim Zahawi once warned Nigel Farage‘s Britain would be ‘frightening’ for Brits born abroad and vowed to ‘die a Conservative’ before defecting.
The former cabinet minister and MP was unveiled by a beaming Mr Farage at a press conference today with a warning that Britain is ‘sick’ and requires Reform’s medicine.
At a London press conference today the 58-year-old said ‘our beautiful, ancient, kind, magical island story has reached a dark and dangerous chapter’ and needs Farage in No 10.
But he was not a fan of his new leader when they were on opposing sides.
In 2015 he hit out at Mr Farage over the then Ukip leader saying laws which banned employment discrimination based on race should be scrapped.
Writing for the Conservative home website Mr Zahawi, who came to the UK from Iraq as a refugee aged 11 in 1979, said: ‘I was born in Baghdad but am deeply proud to call myself British.
‘My parents chose to make Britain their home because this was a place where belonging was about what you put in, rather than where you came from.
‘What’s frightening is that in Farage’s Britain people like me could be lawfully discriminated against and British businesses would be encouraged to bin our CVs.’
The same year he said Farage was ‘as establishment as they come’ because he had run for political office SIX times and been an MEP for 15 years.
The year before he was asked about joining Ukip on Twitter, replying: ‘No chance, been a Conservative all my life and will die a Conservative.’
After Mr Zahawi became chancellor in 2022 Mr Farage repaid the compliment, saying: ‘I thought Zahawi had principles, but tonight we learned all he’s interested in is climbing that greasy pole.’
The former cabinet minister and MP was unveiled by a beaming Mr Farage at a press conference today with a warning that Britain is ‘sick’ and requires Reform’s medicine
In 2014, he was asked about joining Ukip on Twitter, replying: ‘No chance, been a Conservative all my life and will die a Conservative.’
Asked about his 2015 comments about Mr Farage today, Mr Zahawi told a reporter: ‘Good on you for digging out a tweet from 11 years ago.
‘But all I would say to you is if I thought this man sitting next to me in any way had an issue with people of my colour or my background who have come to this country, who have integrated, assimilated, proud of this country, worked hard for this country, paid millions of pounds in taxes in this country, invested in this country, I wouldn’t be sitting next to him. And I don’t think he would be sitting next to me either.’
Mr Zahawi arrived in Britain in the 1970s as a Kurdish refugee fleeing Saddam Hussein’s brutal regime in Iraq.
He has previously described how, aged 11, he sat at the back of a classroom in the UK ‘unable to speak a word of English’.
But he went on to make a fortune founding polling firm YouGov from an office in his garden shed, as well as building a £100million property portfolio.
His political career saw him first enter Parliament as a Tory MP in 2010 before becoming Chancellor little more than 12 years later.
But he was sacked by Rishi Sunak as a result of a fierce row over his tax affairs.
He stepped down at the 2024 general election.
After the resulting Tory leadership election in November 2024, in which he backed losing finalist Robert Jenrick, Mr Zahawi tweeted: ‘We owe it to the United Kingdom to get behind Kemi Badenoch.’