UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed Nadhim Zahawi as finance minister on Tuesday following the resignation of Rishi Sunak, who quit upon arriving at the conclusion that “we cannot continue like this.”

 “The public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously. I recognise this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning,” Sunak wrote on Twitter. 

“I am sad to be leaving government but I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that we cannot continue like this,” he added. 

Sunak has been replaced by Nadhim Zahawi, who was previously the education secretary. 

Nadhim Zahawi was born on June 2, 1967, in Baghdad to Iraqi Kurdish parents. When he was nine years old, his family fled to the United Kingdom, where he attended Holland Park School and University College London. 

Zahawi was the co-founder and the chief executive officer of market research company YouGov until 2010. Later on, he was appointed as the chief strategy officer for oil production firm Gulf Keystone Petroleum.

Zahawi was then elected for Stratford-upon-Avon at the 2010 general election after the retirement of former Conservative MP John Maples.

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In the 2018 cabinet reshuffle, Zahawi was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families under former PM Theresa May.

After Boris Johnson was sworn in as the Prime Minister in 2019, Zahawi was appointed to the role of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Industry. 

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During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment for Britain’s vaccine programme.

A year after that, he was promoted as Secretary of State for Education in the cabinet reshuffle.

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Fast forward to today, 55-year-old Nadhim Zahawi inherits an economy that is possibly heading towards a steep decline and showdown. He will now have to endure significant pressure to decrease taxes and help struggling households in the country.