Nadhim Zahawi saga is blow to Rishi Sunak’s bid to rebuild trust

PM acted swiftly after receiving adviser's report but there was little in it he could not have found out a fortnight ago

Rishi Sunak was in his sprawling constituency home in North Yorkshire when just after 7am on Sunday he received the report by Sir Laurie Magnus, his new ethics adviser, on whether Nadhim Zahawi had broken the ministerial code over his tax affairs.

The four-page document was damning, finding that the Tory party chair had breached the code on seven occasions, including by failing to declare the HMRC investigation into his finances and subsequent 5m settlement including a penalty, even though they could have given rise to conflicts of interests.