REVIEW: Nadhim Zahawi’s new biography The Boy from Baghdad reprises ‘boy done good’ narrative

Reaction has been mixed to Nadhim Zahawi’s memoir, The Boy From Baghdad: My Journey from Waziriyah to Westminser, which came out last month.

Even the Telegraph – the newspaper which Nadhim was meant to be involved with taking over at one point – has reviewed it somewhat harshly. “If there were a competition to find the most cliché-riddled political memoir, The Boy from Baghdad would walk it,” says its critic Alexander Larman as he gave it three stars.

“The introduction alone contains this passage, notes Mr Larman as he quotes: ‘As my dad always said, the best way to lead an army is from the front. When your values come under threat, don’t wait for others to defend them. Stand up and be counted even if it means you’re the first to be shot down. I’d already put my head well and truly above the parapet that night in Dave [Cameron]’s kitchen so there was no point turning back now’.”