Who is Laurie Magnus? The man dubbed the 'next Sue Gray'

Nadhim Zahawi is under investigation because of his tax affairs.

The senior Tory is facing calls to resign after it was revealed he paid a penalty to HMRC over unpaid tax in shares in YouGov whilst he was chancellor.

While he said he was “confident” he had “acted properly throughout”, Sunak said there were “clearly questions that need answering” so launched action.

The person charged with investigating him? Sir Laurie Magnus, prime minister Rishi Sunak's ethics adviser.

Who is he?

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Prior to doing all things ethics, Sir Laurie worked in the financial services sector for over 40 years.

He is currently chairman of Historic England and was also deputy chairman of the National Trust between 2005 and 2013.

Sir Laurie was also the chairman of the Windsor Leadership Trust, an independent charity providing training programmes for senior leaders across all sectors. He was the deputy chairman of the Benefact Trust, providing charitable financial support to churches and Christian charities in the UK and Ireland.

He has served as a member of the Board of the Culture Recovery Fund, an initiative established by the government to provide financial support to the culture and heritage sectors during the Covid pandemic.

He is giving pretty posh because he was educated at Eton College and Oxford University, and his title of 'Sir' is from the baronetcy he inherited from his uncle.

And Labour's not pleased as they think the watchdog doesn't have enough power.

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said Sunak had “chosen to preserve the rotten ethics regime he inherited”, adding: “This weak prime minister is failing to deliver the integrity he promised and instead has installed yet another toothless watchdog.”

All in all, the whole affair is reminding people of the sorry time we all waited for senior civil servant Sue Gray to conclude her report into Partygate last year.

Cometh the hour, cometh the Twitter reactions.

We just hope it doesn't take him ages to conclude his report.

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