Sunak and cabinet head to Chequers as pressure grows on PM to sack Zahawi – UK politics live

Latest updates: Lib Dems criticise Tory ‘hideaway day’ as ethics probe into Tory party chair’s tax affairs continues

Good morning. Rishi Sunak us hosting a cabinet away day at his country house, Chequers, where the embattled Nadhim Zahawi is expected to attend, in an outing that has been dubbed a “hideaway day” by opposition parties.

The Cabinet’s away day comes after days of damaging headlines about Zahawi’s tax affairs, with the Conservative party chairman subject to an ethics probe. Sunak ordered an investigation by Sir Laurie Magnus, his independent adviser on ministers’ interests, into whether Zahawi broke ministerial rules over the estimated £4.8m bill he settled with HMRC while he was chancellor.

I can’t be drawn on an arrangement of which I don’t know all the details. But the good news is that we will, in around it sounds like ten days’ time or thereabouts, hear from the ethics adviser, who will report to the prime minister, the prime minister will then have the facts and be able to make exactly those judgments.

While Rishi Sunak and his scandal-hit ministers hold a ‘hideaway’ day at Chequers, the rest of the country is suffering from this endless Conservative chaos. The NHS is in crisis and people are struggling to pay their rent or mortgage, but Conservative ministers are too busy fighting to save their own careers. Sunak’s promise to govern with integrity now lies in tatters. He can’t even tackle the multiple crises facing his Cabinet, let alone the huge challenges facing the country.