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(The Independent )

The Conservative Party is facing a latest sleaze scandal and this time it largely boils down to the personal tax affairs of our MPs.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been forced to sack the party chairman Nadhim Zahawi over his tax affairs, despite days before stating there was nothing more to say on the matter.

The tax arrangements of top public servants has become an increasingly dangerous area for the Tories since The Independent revealed last year that Rishi Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murty, had claimed non-domicile status while Sunak was chancellor.

It comes as Jeremy Hunt was forced to confirm he has never paid an HMRC tax penalty. The chancellor’s answer came upon the third time of asking, having declined to answer twice when the question was put to him after his London Bloomberg speech.

Asked by BBC News to clarify whether he had ever paid a HMRC penalty, Mr Hunt said: “I don’t normally comment about my own tax records. But, I am chancellor, so, for the record: I haven’t paid a HMRC fine.”

So where does all these leave us? How concerned should we be about our MPs and their personal tax affairs? Where does the latest allegations of sleaze leave the Tory party and what does its future look like? And what about the country’s trust in our politicians?

Join us for the latest in The Independent’s virtual event series ‘How do the Conservatives recover from Tory sleaze?’, where we will be discussing all this as well as looking ahead to what the Conservatives might have in store for the nation in the upcoming Budget.

Join us for an hour-long discussion hosted by our chief political commentator John Rentoul. He will be joined by our associate editor, and former economics editor, Sean O’Grady, David Gauke, former Lord Chancellor, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, Jess Phillips and Nimesh Shah, CEO of accountancy experts Blick Rothenberg.

The event will take place on February 15 on Zoom and will start at 6.30pm.

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