Former Tory chancellor Zahawi joins Reform and backs Nigel Farage

Summary

Nadhim Zahawi, the former Conservative chancellor, announced on Monday that he has defected to Reform UK and was unveiled beside Nigel Farage at a press conference in central London. He said he had 'made up his mind that the team that will deliver for this nation will be the team that Nigel will put together', and that he was joining Reform for that reason. The move made Zahawi the most senior former Conservative yet to join Farage’s party.

What Zahawi said

Britain needs Nigel Farage as prime minister

In a pre‑recorded video Zahawi said the nation had 'reached a dark and dangerous chapter' and listed problems 'to anyone trying to get a doctor's appointment', those who cannot 'express an opinion on X', and parents who want children taught 'facts, not harmful fictions at school'.

Press conference exchanges

Mr Farage welcomed Zahawi's arrival and said it helped dispel suggestions Reform was a 'one‑man band'. At the press conference Zahawi told one reporter that a question about a conference guest was 'a really stupid question'. Journalists also pointed to a 2015 social‑media post in which Zahawi described some of Farage’s comments as 'offensive and racist' and said he would be 'frightened to live in a country run by you'. Zahawi replied: 'If I thought this man sitting next to me had in any way an issue with people of my colour... I wouldn't be sitting next to him.'

Reactions

A Conservative spokesman dismissed the move as part of a flight of 'has‑been politicians' and said Reform was 'fast becoming the party of has‑been politicians looking for their next gravy train'. Labour chair Anna Turley said Zahawi was 'a discredited and disgraced politician' and that Reform UK 'has no shame'. Manuela Perteghella, the Liberal Democrat MP for Zahawi’s former Stratford‑on‑Avon seat, said 'Reform is becoming a retirement home for disgraced former Conservative ministers'.

Record and controversies

Before politics Zahawi co‑founded the YouGov polling company. He rose to national prominence as vaccines minister during the Covid pandemic and later served briefly as chancellor in 2022. An inquiry found he had breached the ministerial code and he was removed as Conservative party chairman in 2023; he subsequently paid nearly £5m to HMRC to settle his tax affairs and stood down as the Stratford‑on‑Avon MP ahead of the 2024 general election.

Past criticisms and contradictions

Zahawi has not always been an admirer of Farage; he once likened him to Goebbels and in 2015 wrote that Farage's comments were 'offensive and racist' and that he would be 'frightened to live in a country run by you'. At Monday's event he reiterated that if he believed Farage had an issue with people of his background he would not be sitting next to him.

Allegations about Farage

A Guardian op‑ed by Rickard Berg collects accounts from former Dulwich pupils who say Farage singled out classmates for racist and antisemitic abuse. Berg writes that he was 'picked on' because he was Swedish and recalls being told to 'go home, back to your own country'; he also recounts Peter Ettedgui's memory that Farage would hiss 'Hitler was right' and say 'gas them'. Berg says the first responses ranged from denial to calling episodes 'banter', and that Farage has described some of the recent accounts as 'fantasy'.

Vaccine sceptics and free speech

Reform drew criticism after Dr Aseem Malhotra told a party conference audience he believed Covid vaccines had been a factor in cancers affecting members of the royal family; Reform later distanced itself from that claim. When journalists raised that episode at Monday's event Zahawi said he 'respected a party that values free speech'.

Political impact and next steps

Reform's roll‑call of former Conservatives has grown noticeably since the last election, and some reports say more than 20 Tory MPs and councillors have defected to Farage’s party. Mr Farage is due in Scotland this week to unveil the party's Scottish leader, and he and others have said the devolved and local polls on 7 May could be decisive for the Conservatives' national standing.

State of play

Reporting across outlets agrees that Zahawi has joined Reform and that his record as vaccines minister, a brief chancellor and a 2023 tax settlement are established parts of his public biography; at the same time former Dulwich classmates have accused Nigel Farage of racist and antisemitic bullying and Farage has characterised parts of the reporting as 'fantasy', and it remains unclear how Reform will reconcile those tensions — next steps include Farage’s Scotland visit and the run‑up to the May polls.