The Herald takes a closer look at why Nadhim Zahawi has chosen to step down

AFTER 14 years spent weathering a sea of troubles during his time as Stratford MP, it had looked as though Nadhim Zahawi was unshakeable as a barnacle.

No amount of scandals – expenses in 2009 and taxes in 2022 – looked anywhere near to actually unseating Nadhim from his Avonside seat. So why has he stepped down now?

One of the likely answers is that he looked on course to be losing one of the safest seats in the country and was therefore obliged to go before he disappeared down the political dumpster dragging others with him. Naturally Nadhim is resisting this unpalatable narrative publicly and sticking to the story that he’s getting on a bit – 58 – and pastures new called and all that.

Since the Stratford-on-Avon constituency was established in 1950, it has only ever elected a Conservative Member of Parliament. The running joke for a long time has been that a donkey with a blue rosette could win Stratford, so Tory to its core is it.

However, many blamed Nadhim’s “toxic” reputation for shaking that presumption. His presence was named as being a major factor in the Conservatives losing control of Stratford District Council to the Lib Dems in last May’s local elections. Voters were clearly not enamoured with him following the tax scandal.

Since then, the yellows have been gleefully crowing about the ‘Nadhim Zahawi factor’ giving them the edge in a general election and a historic victory.

Just recently, the very opinion and data company that Nadhim founded – the share sale that led to untaxed millions – YouGov, predicted the Lib Dems winning 38 per cent of the vote in Stratford-on-Avon against the Conservatives’ 32 in the upcoming election.

While not exactly falling on his own sword, perhaps Nadhim’s resignation is a tacit response to that doomy forecast.

Only last week, Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey clearly thought the game was up for Nadhim in Stratford, as he swooped in to give local members a pep talk.

And if Sir Ed and most of Stratford realised Nadhim’s time was nigh, then obviously Conservative Campaign HQ must have had dark thoughts too. Perhaps it was they who sent a shepherd’s crook from stage right to quietly off their tarnished man.

Whether Nadhim’s stepping down will see the Stratford vote swing from yellow back into the blue zone remains to be seen. Voters who lately switched allegiance to the Lib Dems will undoubtedly wait to see who the Conservative association pick as their new candidate before allowing themselves to be wooed back again.

Despite Nadhim’s cheery thought that we might get a future prime minister on patch, the mood locally seems to be against another ambitious ‘parachute’ candidate – as Nadhim was back in 2010 – with no real local connection.

A Conservative of integrity with roots in Stratford and enough gravitas to represent residents in parliament shouldn’t be too heard to find, surely?

Pressure group Stratford CAN (Conservative Alternative to Nadhim) says it is ready to spring its own candidate should the association choose badly.

While in the yellow corner, having lost the wild card advantage of a “toxic” competitor, the Lib Dems will be hoping the association does indeed pick another duffer that will give them the same vote boost as the ‘NZ factor’.

The other factor in Nadhim stepping down is that he’s simply got a better offer in the form of a chairmanship of the Very Group – which is part of the Telegraph-owning Barclay family empire with whom he has been linked with a job since last year.

During his interview with the Herald he mentioned that the constituency “deserves a young, energetic new candidate”, implying that his zest for political battle has waned, perhaps as the fear of failure, eg ignominious defeat in a Tory stronghold, waxed.

He’s also returned to talking with enthusiasm about his first love, entrepreneurism.

Calling for less restrictions to money-making schemes, he told the Herald: “Let’s just be cognizant to the fact that entrepreneurism is really hard, if it were easy everyone would be doing it, and therefore let’s be careful when we put barriers in front of wealth creators.”

Aye, there’s the rub… Nadhim’s future looks free from the bulky postbags that come with the territory of being an MP. Dealing with the problems contained in these myriad postbags is, Nadhim says, his proudest achievement while in office – oh, that and the Birmingham Road, you know, the badly congested one that leads out of town.

Let’s hope Nadhim can now rest easy, with postbags replaced by cash bags as he heads into the sunset to make some money.