Leading Tory MP Caroline Nokes has called for beleaguered Party Chairman Nadhim Zahawi to “stand aside”.
The call comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ordered an inquiry into the former Chancellor’s tax affairs.
Ms Nokes – a former minister and the chairman of the Women and Equalities Select Committee – said:
“There is a mantra… once you are the story then you have to go.
“I just genuinely think that this is too much of a problem for him”.
Ms Nokes told TalkTV:
“I think the challenge for Nadhim is: Look at the front pages.
“He is leading too many of them and when you become the story it is a distraction from anything else that the Government is trying to do.
“There are countless examples of good, competent Cabinet colleagues who have got themselves in a mess who have resigned quickly and come back, really in some instances, just a few months later.
“I think in order to get this cleared up Nadhim should stand aside and let the investigation run its course.”
Ms Nokes is the first Conservative MP to ask Mr Zahawi to stand down from his Cabinet role.
Mr Sunak has asked his ethics adviser to investigate Mr Zahawi over a multi-million-pound tax dispute the Tory chairman resolved by paying a penalty of more than £1 million.