Did Rishi really not know about Zahawi’s tax troubles?

Necromancy was the main theme at PMQs. The Labour party has realised that Nadhim Zahawi’s resignation has left a gaping hole in their ‘sleazy Tories’ strategy. They badly need him back on stage.

Sir Keir Starmer addressed Rishi’s fanciful claim that the rumours about Zahawi’s tax affairs were unknown to him until recent weeks. Sir Keir quoted three daily papers that mentioned Zahawi’s murky financial affairs last July. And he treated Rishi’s denials with blokeish scorn.

‘Oh come on. Anyone picking up a newspaper would have known it.’

Is it credible that Rishi knew less about Zahawi than the media, the whole of parliament and most voters? Rishi mounted a feeble defence and said he’d followed the correct procedures.

Sir Keir parodied this, as if the PM were an untrained air-traffic controller blaming a plane crash on a bust computer.

‘Nobody told me. I didn’t know. I didn’t ask.’