Home   News   Article

Subscribe Now

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.

Nadhim as a boy in Kurdistan with his dad and sister Jihan.
Nadhim as a boy in Kurdistan with his dad and sister Jihan.

“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’.”

With wife Lana and boys
With wife Lana and boys

The reviewer observes: “So it continues throughout Nadhim Zahawi’s autobiography. Tasks are thankless, wagons are hitched, wisdom is had in spades, smiles are infectious, success is unmitigated, and cats are set among pigeons. Zahawi thanks his ‘collaborator’ Charlotte Sones in the acknowledgements for ‘helping me curate [my] story’; one wishes that Sones’s curation had been more diligent.”

The Guardian reviewer Tim Adams brands Nadhim’s own account of his life “bullish” and points out the irony of the title: “He describes himself in the title of this memoir as the boy from Baghdad. The bleak irony of the fact that he served in cabinets that dehumanised refugees for political ends is nowhere mentioned.”

Playing it cool as a young man
Playing it cool as a young man

The headline on the Guardian review added an extra line to the book’s title, teasing it as ‘an unlikely story’.

Besides an extract printed in the Times, the only other reviews the Herald could find are two five star reviews on Amazon – both anonymous and without further comment. This week it was sitting at 2,053 in the sales ranking.

You can see that publishers Harper Collins have tried to pitch the book as cleverly as they can.

At Westminster with Lady Thatcher after being selected for Stratford in 2010.
At Westminster with Lady Thatcher after being selected for Stratford in 2010.

Would anyone buy a book with an image of an adult Nadhim on? Further, would anyone want to take lessons from a political biography by a former shamed chancellor?

You can imagine the marketing team’s brainstorming meeting: ‘C’mon people, how we going to flog this one? Ooh, here’s a thought, let’s put a cutie toddler pic on the cover and make it a ‘boy done good against the odds’ story!”

It’s a narrative Nadhim himself has been promulgating ad nauseam for years. When he was running for PM in 2022 (having been instrumental in ousting friend Boris Johnson) he couldn’t tell his own ‘boy done good’ story without tearing up. His Twitter biography at the time read: “From the little boy who spoke no English to a husband, father, self-made businessman, vaccines minister, education secretary, and now Chancellor of the Exchequer. With a plan to deliver, and a track record of success, I am running to be your next leader.”

Conservative candidate for Erith and Thamesmead, 1996.
Conservative candidate for Erith and Thamesmead, 1996.

So basically he’s turned that pitch into this book.

As a Herald journalist I’ve had years of trying to second guess Nadhim. Is the charm genuine? What lurks underneath? Where is that chink in the armour? And maybe it’s that quest for the ‘real’ Nadhim that meant I found The Boy From Baghdad strangely compelling.

He conjures his early boyhood growing up very loved in a privileged family in Iraq most engagingly – the exotic sights and smells. Even back then he was an impish lad with a bit of swagger.

Nadhim's children and wife Lana
Nadhim's children and wife Lana

Later in the book his account of his political life is also interesting – what goes on behind closed doors sort of thing. That is if you can bear the name-dropping and self-aggrandising. It is so cringe at times as to be accidentally laugh-out-loud funny.

Given he was the chancellor who didn’t pay some of his tax (even if it was an oversight) it really is hard to reconcile that with the ‘relatable man of the people’ image the book promotes.

I’m not sure by the end I feel any wiser who the real Nadhim is. He’s undoubtedly a loving family man, but if I had to pick one word to describe him it would be ‘schemer’... he seems to have spent most of his political life plotting to be liked – and that’s how this reads: a charm offensive with a Cheshire cat grin.

One suspects he would never actually make himself vulnerable enough to reveal his true self, perhaps it’s that survivor’s spirit that’s hardened him.




This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies - Learn More