FORMER Stratford MP Nadhim Zahawi has revealed he was once a football hooligan.
Mr Zahawi, who stepped down as an MP ahead of the last general election, made the shock revelation at the Henley Literary Festival. He admitted he used to “go out looking for fights”.
The 57 year-old said he was a member of Liverpool Football Club’s firm as a younger man.
He cited one instance during a confrontation with Southampton fans when a police horse smashed him into a shop front on Seven Sisters Road in London.
The former chancellor’s admission came as he recounted his journey from Iraq to England. He arrived as an 11 year-old when his family fled Saddam Hussein’s regime.
And while his football hooligan past may come as a surprise to the Stratford residents he represented for 14 years, Mr Zahawi was certainly never far from controversy when in office.
A petition was launched in April by residents demanding the Stratford Conservative Association de-select Mr Zahawi as their parliamentary candidate following the “controversies”.
They included his tax affairs, which saw him sacked as as Tory party chair by then prime minister Rishi Sunak after it emerged Mr Zahawi had paid a seven-figure settlement, including a penalty, to HMRC for tax avoidance.
Mr Zahawi maintained from the outset he acted properly, and that his tax error was “careless and not deliberate”
He also made headlines for the wrong reasons while an MP over expenses claims for his energy bills, for which he apologised and repaid more than £5,000.
The multi-millionaire founder of market research company YouGov announced soon afterwards that he would be standing down as a Conservative candidate at the next general election.
