Nadhim Zahawi to stand down as Stratford-on-Avon MP at next election

Long-serving Conservative MP and former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi is set to stand down as MP for Stratford-on-Avon at the next general election. Mr Zahawi posted a letter on his Twitter account this morning saying that the ‘time is right’ for someone else to represent the constituency.

He added: “I will of course serve my constituents with dedication and determination until then, and the Prime Minister, and the Conservative Party, will continue to have my unswerving support into and beyond the next general election.”

There has been a lot of speculation about when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will call the election after a tough result for the Conservative Party in last week’s local elections. It is due to take place any time before January next year.

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Mr Zahawi has served as Stratford MP since 2010. He joined Theresa May’s government in 2018 as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families in the 2018 reshuffle, moving to a similar role in the Business and Industry desk under Boris Johnson.

In 2021 he was promoted to Cabinet Secretary of State for Education, and became Chancellor of the Exchequer after Rishi Sunak resigned from the role in 2022. But less the 48 hours later he famously withdrew his support for then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who resigned shortly afterwards.

Mr Zahawi was briefly a candidate in the Conservative Party leadership election, but went on to support Liz Truss, who appointed him Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Minister for Intergovernmental Relations and Minister for Equalities.

Under Rishi Sunak he served as Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister Without Portfolio, until he was dismissed for breaching the Ministerial Code.

Mr Zahawi was born in Iraq and came to the UK as a child, and he referenced this in his resignation letter, saying: “How is it that a boy from Baghdad who came to these shores, fleeing persecution and unable to speak a word of English, was able to do as much as I have? For all our challenges, this is the best country on Earth and it helped me make my British dream come true.”

He added that the representing Stratford-on-Avon has been ‘the greatest honour of my life’.

You can read his resignation letter in full on his Twitter account.

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