Who is Nadhim Zahawi of Kurdish origin, Britain's first minister born outside of Britain? Here is his story:
Nadhim Zahawi, 55, the first minister in Britain to be born outside of his country, was born in Baghdad in 1967. He is Iraqi of Kurdish origin. He is a politician on the agenda with his influence on Boris Johnson's resignation from the prime minister position on 7 July 2022 and his allegations that he lobbied to become prime minister.
Zahawi's grandfather is the President of the Central Bank of Iraq and his father is known as a businessman. The Zahawi family fled Iraq and immigrated to the United Kingdom with their family in 1976 as a result of intelligence that government officials were coming to arrest them after Saddam Hussein increased his power. Zahawi spent most of his life in England. Zahawi expressed his memories of fleeing from Iraq with his family in the following years as "a traumatic childhood story".
Educated in private schools, Zahawi studied chemical engineering at the University of London Academy. Saying that he followed in the footsteps of his father, Zahawi founded a company that sells Teletab products. Zahawi, who later founded YouGov Research Company, was the director of this company until 2010. Then, in 2010, he joined politics from the Conservative Party and was elected as a member of parliament.
Zahawi was also in a lot of trouble when MPs' spending was on the agenda in the House of Commons, but this event did not hinder his political progress. British Prime Minister Theresa May made Zahawi Minister of Education for Children and Families in 2018.
He came to the fore when he attended a gala organized by the Presidents Club, open to men only, during his ministry. When Boris Johnson took power in July 2019, he moved from education to the business department and continued to serve as minister. In 2020, he transferred to the Ministry of Vaccine, which he called "the most important job I will do". Prime Minister Johnson appointed Zahawi as Minister of Education to the cabinet in 2021. Zahawai took over the seat of the Ministry of the Treasury after the resignation of the Indian-born Rishi Sunak, the Minister of the Treasury.
Zahawi maintains good relations with the Kurdish Regional Government
Nadhim Zahawi said in 2013 that the Kurdish Regional Government of Northern Iraq was a "forgotten victim" in the conflict in Syria. In his speech, Zahawi expressed the role of the Northern Iraq Kurdish Regional Government in the Syrian conflict with the following words:
“Refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq are paid attention, but there is no mention of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), which took around 240 thousand people. The KRG did this because as Kurds, we are all refugees, we know their pain and we do not want to let them down.”
Zahawi also voted for the British to organize a military operation to deter the use of chemical weapons in Syria, but the motion was not accepted. After the result in parliament, Zahawi said Britain had "failed the innocent people of Syria".
Zahawi maintains close ties to the KRG, advising his family's numerous businesses there, including steel, real estate, and oil and gas services. He states that Kurdistan has a healthy democracy and despite its problems, it remains a "beacon of hope" for the region.
It is claimed that Nadhim Zahawi was the person who stabbed the last knife in Boris Johnson's resignation dated 7 July 2022. Nadhim Zahawi is described as Boris' Brutus and is alleged to have lobbied "to become prime minister".
For details on the subject:
How Nadhim Zahawi plunged the final knife into PM a DAY after being made Chancellor