Tory Minister gets terrorised over Nadhim Zahawi's tax scandal on the morning round

which is more embarrassing do you think a former prime minister and leader of the party who needs to abuse the chairman of the BBC as a financial fixer or a former Chancellor executive who can't get his tax sums right which is more embarrassing to you personally well look as I say the they're being looked at by different people the um first example is being looked at by William shawcross in the context of the appointments process um and the independent investigator is looking at the second so they are being properly investigated that's the right thing to do that will maintain public confidence um in the meantime what I'm doing is concentrating on hiring 20 000 extra police officers so by March of this year we'll have more police officers than we've ever had in our country's uh history uh the chancellors you know working hard on making sure the PWC last week found the UK was the third best place in the world um to invest behind only the US and China so we're concentrating on working on these important issues which are critical to the future of the country all the time in Parliament is being dealing with issues of the way you're running the country and to our viewers who are dealing with the cost of living and worrying about paying their energy bills and how to fill up the car this week and whether the strikes are going to affect them and getting doctor's appointment they might look at the current situation all these allegations about government behavior and just think you know these guys have run out of time no but we've got a new prime minister who's got a new approach and Richardson has been very very clear both as Chancellor and then how many you know and then as prime minister that ethics and integrity are really important to him and where um issues have Arisen he hasn't tried to brush them under the carpet or ignore them or hope they go away well he did he said it was all dealt with last week yeah but as soon as as soon as it became clear there were still questions over the weekend you know within 24 or 48 Hours um he responded to that by launching an independent investigation to be honest no one really knows exactly what happens because uh tax Affairs are rightly A Private Matter between an individual and hmrc as the Prime Minister said yesterday there are real questions that need to be answered here the right thing to do is to get those properly investigated by the independent advisor on ethics Nadeem zahalia said he's going to fully cooperate with that investigation provide whatever information is needed and that's the right way to go about sorting this out sorry Mr Phillip you say nobody knows what happened well Nadeem zahari knows what happened um surely he should have told the Prime Minister what happened when he was appointed chairman or a previous prime minister when he was appointed Chancellor we've seen a few examples and this is this is one of them where questions have been asked about somebody and instead of ignoring it or brushing it under the carpet he has quickly got on and launched an independent investigation to make sure we get to the bottom of it and that is what you would expect to do it wasn't quick these questions were there right throughout the summer there was reporting of them and indeed they were very much front and center on the 15th of January that the matter had been settled did he at that point not wouldn't the right thing to do if you were really into honesty accountability and integrity to call the relevant person in and say there's a thing in the paper is it true well look I don't know what conversations uh took place private conversations between the Prime Minister and Nadeem zahawi um the report the sun report you're referring to is only nine days ago the the further information that was put into the public domain by Mr zahawi himself over the weekend is like two or three days ago and within as I said already two or three times within 24 to 48 hours of that the prime minister launched an independent investigation and that is what you would expect a prime minister to do in those circumstances he's acted quickly he's acted decisively he hasn't brushed it under the carpet he's going to be investigated independently so all of us can find out what the facts actually are because at the moment owing to the private nature of tax Arrangements between an individual hmrc we don't know exactly what the situation is it's important we find out and that is going to happen so the Prime Minister didn't know about the investigation into Nadine sahu when he appointed him as as chairman my understanding is that when the Prime Minister appointed Nadim zahawi uh his understanding was there were no outstanding uh tax issues at that time and I don't think my understanding is that he wasn't aware of the discussions that had taken place uh previously clearly over the weekend further things were disclosed uh publicly which has led the prime minister to appoint the independent ethics advisor to investigate and that is exactly the right thing to do it shows that the prime minister is acting exactly as he said he would to maintain ethics and standards in public life do you think that paying a seven figure penalty to hmrc when your Chancellor is appropriate behavior well I think the Prime Minister has said very clearly uh yesterday or the day before that there are some questions that need to be serious questions that need to be answered about this whole um episode obviously the details of exactly what happened between the deems of hardware and hmrc uh I don't know and you don't know and that's why this independent ethics advisor is going to be looking into this Mr zahawi himself has said that the tax van told him the error he made was careless not deliberate I'm I'm I'm sure you're aware of this but the definition of carelessness in the tax code careless means a failure to take reasonable care in relation to your tax Affairs which means it's not the same as just getting them wrong carelessness according to gov dot UK can be likened to the long-standing concept in the general law of negligence so Mr zawi himself has said his error was careless does the Prime Minister therefore think it is acceptable for a senior member of the government to be negligent in their tax Affairs well as I say we've got this um word careless that's been put into the pub public domain we don't know exactly what it was that that carelessness represents what exactly it's a failure to take reasonable care that's the definition how can a senior member of the government who not long ago was running the treasury be careless in relation to their tax Affairs I think always said Mr Phillip you're talking about him as if he's someone who's sort of a random stranger this is someone who holds one of the most senior positions in your party and has held the second most senior job in government why isn't this known already why are we having to have an inquiry into Nadeem zahawi's tax Affairs surely it's incumbent upon him to a do the right thing by paying the right amount of tax in the first place and secondly to be open and transparent about that with his boss in the first place yeah well I agree to both of those to both of those points um but I don't know sitting here precisely what happened and that's why we ignored you frankly ignored anyone just spoken in the last few minutes to Caroline Knox a senior conservative back bencher she says she thinks Nadeem zahar we should stand aside while this investigation goes on what do you think of that idea well I think it's reasonable that where there's an investigation that the person concerned is allowed to continue uh serving while that investigation continues we do have a principle uh don't we in this country that you know innocent till proven guilty that applies I think to in a whole range of different circumstances so the investigation has been launched by the Prime Minister that's the right thing to do it'll get to the bottom of this and then the Prime Minister will make uh make his decision um but I don't think it's fair to um jump to any conclusions before the investigation has concluded I don't think she was jumping to any conclusions and she wasn't saying that he should resign she just said he should stand aside while this uh investigation went on recuse himself and then maybe go back to his job if he's cleared that that seems fair enough doesn't it and then he's not a distraction well I mean I don't take that view I think we should let the investigation play out the PM's acted decisively um let's get to the bottom of this via the investigation then we can take it from there was he aware of the penalty that had been levied against uh this is and I don't believe so um but as I say what we need to do is get these facts fully investigated uh properly thoroughly because you and I don't know frankly exactly what happened and because people's tax Affairs completely right yeah and that's why it's it's really appropriate that the independent ethics advisor properly looks into this because you know you and I would be speculating otherwise but the Curious Thing and the reason I mentioned this to you is that Boris Johnson worked with Simon case every day as prime minister and cabinet secretary why would he not introduce his loan guarantor to Simon case himself instead someone who is applying to BBC chairman at the same to bbbc chairman at the same time did it and that is damaging to the public broadcaster now and that damage has been caused by this well I I you'd have to ask Boris Johnson that question I don't know what he said and or why he said it or why he didn't say you'd have to ask him can you see that it's a very odd thing um look I can see that Richard Sharp drew the matter to the cabinet secretary's attention perhaps he said he'd do that rather than Boris but I honestly don't know um the commissioner for public appointments is reviewing the whole thing and he will no doubt um get to the bottom of it I've been assured that the proper process was followed in a pointing Richard shop that included scrutiny by a cross-party committee of members of parliament which I think gives a pretty good degree of assurance

Channel: PoliticsJOE

Views: 148,117

Keywords: Politics, UK politics, British politics, Parliament, Government, Westminster, Tory, Conservative, Chris Philp, Nadhim Zahawi, Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson, Media round, journalist, taxes, mashup, supercut, compilation, news, Political news, Politics news

Id: gyN_pEAZMdk

Length: 9min 37sec (577 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 24 2023