Nadhim Zahawi was apparently denied a Conservative peerage just weeks before he decided to defect to Reform UK.
On Monday, the former Tory chancellor announced he was joining Nigel Farage’s party.
Zahawi was the last chancellor under Boris Johnson’s premiership, and served in Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak’s governments as well.
Now, he’s the latest ex-Tory to swap one shade of blue for another.
READ NEXT: Nadhim Zahawi deletes resurfaced tweet following Reform defection
But it seems that there could be ulterior motive to Zahawi’s party swap, along with wanting to evacuate the sinking Tory ship for his own personal benefit.
The Telegraph reports that Zahawi was denied Conservative peerage weeks before he defected to Reform.
Tory sources told the publication Zahawi made “multiple approaches”, both in person and over the phone, to Kemi Badenoch’s team in late 2024 asking that he be included in the most recent political peerages list.
Sources said they were “very clear he wasn’t going to get on” because of his sacking from Rishi Sunak’s cabinet over unpaid tax.
The Guardian’s Pippa Crerar later shared on X that Tory sources had confirmed the story to her as well.
One source said: “Nadhim asked for a peerage several times. Given he was sacked for his dodgy tax affairs, this was never going to happen. His defection tells you everything you need to know about Reform being a repository for disgraced politicians.”
Zahawi is arguably the biggest Tory defection to Farage’s party so far, but is yet another example of Reform recruiting politicians who served in disastrous Conservative governments.
Reform have spent months criticising the Tory governments since 2010, particularly that of Boris Johnson, with the party accusing his government of betraying Brexit.
Reform keep trying to tell the public they are different to the Conservatives, but this hasn’t stopped them recruiting such glittering Tory political talents as Nadine Dorries, Jonathan Gullis, Lee Anderson and Andrea Jenkyns.