When my family and I narrowly escaped the clutches of Saddam Hussein’s brutal secret police to settle in Britain almost half a century ago, little did I know how far my fortunes would change.
Britain has been wonderful to me. I have set up and sold a number of successful businesses and gone on to hold some of the highest political offices in the greatest country on earth.
Even now there are times when I stand in front of the bathroom mirror in the morning and have to pinch myself. How on earth did a boy from Baghdad, who ended up on these shores at the age of 11 without a word of English, go on to be Chancellor of the Exchequer?
Which is why it breaks my heart to see what has happened over the past 18 months to the country that so generously took me in all those years ago.
You really don’t have to look very hard to see that Britain is now fundamentally broken.
That’s the reason I have decided to join Reform UK, to offer my experience and insight to help Nigel Farage and the confident team he is building.
I could very easily spend the rest of my life back in business, which I have been enjoying since leaving Parliament at the last election. But frankly I could no longer sit on the sidelines and watch Britain slowly suffocate under Labour’s economically illiterate policies.
It’s no exaggeration to say our economy is on life support. Unemployment is on the up, growth remains stagnant. Everywhere you go, businesses are dying.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage with Nadhim Zahawi at a press conference on Monday
‘Britain needs Reform. Britain needs Nigel Farage as Prime Minister,’ argues Mr Zahawi
But then what do you expect from a Government that seems to actively despise capitalism and all the dynamic, creative benefits it brings?
Just take a took at the current Cabinet. Not an ounce of business experience or real world involvement between them. Small wonder financial incompetence seeps through every government department.
We have an out-of-her-depth Chancellor who hasn’t got a clue what she is doing. An Energy Secretary hell-bent on pursuing a Net Zero policy which will bankrupt the country. A Foreign Secretary who’s not just giving away British territory – but making us pay for the pleasure of doing so.
Meanwhile, we have an Attorney General so fixated with the European Court of Human Rights that he admits he would never attempt to overrule it, presumably even when it comes to deporting child rapists.
That is not to say the Conservative government of which I was part was perfect. Far from it.
When I look back on our time in office, we were too timid – too weak, dare I say – in the way we approached tackling the problems facing the country.
It shames me to admit, but far too often we allowed our bureaucratic behemoth of a civil service to run rings round us whenever we tried to introduce real change.
Not so much the individuals in the various departments in which I worked, many of whom were outstanding, talented and capable people. I mean the quangos, the regulators, the administrators.
‘It’s all too complicated and too big to change’, they told us. And we believed them.
My own personal regret is that when I entered politics from the world of business, I prided myself as one of life’s straight-talkers. After all, a businessman is only as good as his word, as the old adage goes.
But on reflection, it didn’t take long after arriving in Westminster before I found myself falling into that peculiar, jargonistic speak we hear politicians spout all the time across the airwaves, talking around issues as opposed to tackling them head on.
Well, not any more. From now on, I want to be absolutely up front with the public and honest about the unvarnished fears I have for our country.
Because believe me when I say we have reached a dark chapter in our nation’s history. As calamitous as this lot are, far more sinister forces are patiently waiting in the wings. I’m talking about the threat of radical Islamists who plan to enter Parliament at the next general election.
Already we have seen how these fifth columns like to stir up hate and division in Jewish communities. Make no mistake, the rest of the country are every bit as much in their sights, too.
It is my firm belief there is only one political party and one man who can rescue us from all of this.
Britain needs Reform. Britain needs Nigel Farage as Prime Minister.
