Former Conservative chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has defected to Reform UK, saying the United Kingdom has reached a “dark and dangerous” moment and requires what he described as a “glorious revolution”.
Zahawi was unveiled at a press conference on Monday by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, making him the most senior former Conservative MP to join the party to date. Zahawi served as chancellor for two months in 2022 under Boris Johnson and held ministerial roles between 2018 and 2023.
Explaining his decision, Zahawi said concerns about free speech, including “on X or even just down the pub”, had influenced his move. He criticised what he described as an over-powerful civil service and the expansion of quangos, arguing these structures were created under Labour governments and continued by Conservative administrations.
He said he shared responsibility for what he called “constitutional vandalism” and a failure to take back control from what he described as an entrenched and unelected bureaucracy. Zahawi also pointed to major failures on mass migration and criticised what he described as “virtue-signalling legislation” that he said had made the country less competitive and less prosperous.
Farage said Zahawi’s defection did not mean Reform UK was becoming a rebranded Conservative Party, adding that he had fought the Conservatives “tooth and nail” over Brexit.
Zahawi previously served as education secretary, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and chairman of the Conservative Party. He was removed from the latter role in January 2023 after an ethics investigation found he had breached ministerial rules by failing to fully disclose that his tax affairs were under investigation by HMRC.
Asked about the episode, Zahawi said his mistake had been failing to be sufficiently specific in his declarations to the Cabinet Office. He said politicians should be held to a higher standard of accountability but argued that this should not prevent him from “doing the right thing” for the country.
Born in Iraq in 1967, Zahawi came to the UK as a child with his parents. During the Covid pandemic, he served as vaccines minister and oversaw the rollout of the coronavirus vaccination programme. He was also a candidate in the 2022 Conservative leadership contest but was eliminated in the first round.
When questioned about allegations of racism previously made against Farage by former school peers, Zahawi said he would not have joined Reform UK if he believed its leader held racist views. His comments come despite a public post he made in 2015, in which Zahawi directly criticised Farage, saying he was “as British as” him and describing remarks made at the time as “offensive and racist”, adding that he would be “frightened to live in a country run” by him.