Who is Nadhim Zahawi, UK's new finance minister replacing Rishi Sunak
Nadhim Zahawi's appointment comes after Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid resigned within minutes of each other, potentially costing the British Prime Minister the support of the men in charge of dealing with two of Britain's most pressing issues: the cost-of-living crisis and rising Covid-19 infections.
FollowBritish Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed new UK Health Secretary and Finance Minister on Tuesday, following the resignations of Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak. The British Prime Minister named UK Cabinet chief of staff Steve Barclay as the new health secretary, and UK education secretary Nadhim Zahawi as the new finance minister.
Here's what we know about Zahawi
Zahawi came to Britain as a toddler with his Kurdish family and spoke no English. He made a successful business career in the United Kingdom. Nadhim Zahawi, 55, co-founded the influential polling firm YouGov and was involved in local Conservative politics in London before becoming an MP in 2010. He was also well praised for coordinating the deployment of pandemic vaccinations in the United Kingdom.
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Zahawi previously served as Education Secretary. Michelle Donelan, a former junior education minister, took over as education secretary. He was named minister in charge of the COVID-19 vaccination rollouts in 2020 after serving in minor ministerial responsibilities in the education and business sectors. Boris Johnson promoted him to the cabinet in 2021 to oversee education policy.
Interestingly, Zahawi's private riches, like Rishi Sunak's, has garnered criticism, especially when he claimed parliamentary costs for heating his horse stables in 2013.
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Nadhim Zahawi's appointment comes after Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid resigned within minutes of each other, potentially costing the British Prime Minister the support of the men in charge of dealing with two of Britain's most pressing issues: the cost-of-living crisis and rising Covid-19 infections. Both ministers spoke to the British PM's credibility on a day in which the prime minister was forced to retract prior claims regarding the crisis that has rocked his government for the past six days.
