OPINION - The Leader podcast: Sunak’s poll slump & Zahawi sacking fallout

It’s the day after Rishi Sunak sacked Nadhim Zahawi as Conservative Party chairman for a “serious breach of the ministerial code” as an ethics investigation ruled ex-Chancellor Zahawi failed to declare an HMRC probe into his tax affairs.

Now the PM’s battling a ratings slump just over three months into the top job.

According to exclusive Ipsos polling for the Evening Standard, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer overtakes Sunak voters’ “most capable prime minister”.

The PM was at the University Hospital of North Tees, trying to draw a line under the Zahawi affair, while Health Minister Helen Whately defended the boss on BBC Breakfast.

The Leader podcast looks at what’s next for Zahawi, who was also former minister in charge of the UK’s vaccines roll-out - and can he retain that healthy majority as Stratford-upon-Avon MP?

The Leader podcast is joined by Dr Grace Lordan, a labour economist at the London School of Economics, and Evening Standard political editor Nic Cecil, to discuss Sunak’s polling problems, his latest inflation strategy, Zahawi’s mega tax bill and just what is the Duchy of Lancaster?