Former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi admits football hooligan past: ‘I went out looking for fights’

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Louise Thomas

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Former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has admitted that he used to be a football hooligan and would “go out looking for fights”.

The 57-year-old, who served under Boris Johnson, revealed he was a member of Liverpool Football Club’s firm as a younger man.

Speaking at the Henley Literary Festival, a partner of The Independent, Mr Zahawi said: “I was part of Liverpool’s firm and would go out looking for fights as a football hooligan.

“In one fight with Southampton fans, I remember a giant police horse smashed me into a shop front on Seven Sisters Road in London.”

Mr Zahawi was elected as Conservative MP for Stratford-upon-Avon in May 2010 and later went on to work as a business minister and chancellor under Boris Johnson’s government.

Mr Zahawi spoke about his checkered past when recounting his journey from Iraq to England as an 11-year-old who fled Saddam Hussein’s regime with his family.

He also revealed he was “uncomfortable” with some language used by his government around immigration while in power.

Despite this, he claimed the UK needed to have “difficult” conversations about immigration to stop the spread of racism.

“In August, we saw racists and white supremacists on our streets. If we want to keep them off our streets, we need to have a difficult conversation about immigration,” he said.

He was sacked as Tory chairman in 2023 by former prime minister Rishi Sunak after The Independent revealed he was being investigated by HMRC over his tax affairs.

In May 2024, Mr Zahawi apologised for his handling of the HMRC investigation and confirmed he paid the taxman £5m to settle the case - something he previously denied.

Mr Zahawi said his mistakes “have been mine” and “should have been more explicit” about the details of his settlement - made while serving as chancellor.

The investigation was sparked by The Independent’s revelation of an HMRC investigation into the MP over his tax affairs.

Mr Zahawi tried to stop the publication from exposing the investigation by threatening to sue if the information was published.

At the time, Mr Zahawi, who was serving as chancellor, repeatedly said he had paid all due taxes and would “one hundred per cent take legal action” if it was reported that he had been investigated.

However, The Independent ignored his threats and published two reports, detailing how Mr Zahawi had faced inquiries from the Serious Fraud Office, the National Crime Agency (NCA) and HMRC.

Mr Zahawi did not sue, and paid a penalty of more than £1m to HMRC in a settlement worth almost £5m in total.

The prime minister’s adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus, found that Mr Zahawi had broken ministerial rules seven times by failing to be open and honest during the tax saga – including by making “untrue” public statements.