Former UK minister Nadhim Zahawi appointed chair of Very Group

13th May 2024 10:02

(Sharecast News) - Controversial former UK finance minister Nadhim Zahawi has been appointed as chair of online retailer Very Group, just days after confirming that he would step down from parliament at the next general election.

Very is the largest remaining operation of the Barclay family's business empire. Zahawi replaces interim chair Aidan Barclay.

The Stratford-on-Avon MP since 2010, Zahawi was finance minister under former prime minister Boris Johnson for two months in 2022. He also held ministerial posts at the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Business.

He was made Conservative Party chairman by current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak but was sacked in January 2023 for failing to disclose he was being investigated by tax authorities and the National Crime Agency over a multi-million pound dispute related to the sale of shares in his polling firm YouGov while he was finance minister.

Over the weekend he admitted for the first time he paid out nearly £5m to the tax authority to settle the matter. Having previously claimed he was being "smeared" by reporters who had uncovered the story he told the BBC he had made a "careless mistake".

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com