Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailNadhim Zahawi, the MP for Stratford-on-Avon, has announced he will not stand at the next general election, saying the time is right for a “a new, energetic Conservative” to take over in his West Midlands seat.Once touted as a rising star of the party, he was praised for his role as vaccines minister during the rollout of jabs during the Covid-19 pandemic and by July 2022 had been promoted to chancellor by then-prime minister Boris Johnson.But by the beginning of 2023 , he had been cast out of frontline politics after being sacked by the now Tory leader Rishi Sunak after an ethics inquiry found he had broken the ministerial code several times over his tax affairs.“My mistakes have been mine”, Mr Zahawi said in a statement on Thursday, announcing his intention to step down as an MP.Mr Zahawi, born into an influential Kurdish family, came to the UK fleeing persecution when they fell foul of Saddam Hussein’s regime.He said he arrived on the shores of Britain unable to speak a word of English, but later rose to the top of the business world before entering politics.But like so many who have gone before him, Mr Zahawi, whose reputation as a clear and effective communicator saw him rise to the top of the Conservative Party and government, exited his most recent high-profile position under a cloud.He was sacked by Rishi Sunak as Tory Party chairman after an ethics inquiry found he had broken the ministerial code several times over his tax affairs.The investigation was launched after it emerged that Mr Zahawi had cut a multimillion-pound deal to settle a tax dispute with HMRC while briefly serving as Boris Johnson’s chancellor, having been appointed to the role in the dying days of the former prime minister’s time in office.The estimated £4.8 million bill included a penalty when he was ultimately the minister in charge of the tax office.Mr Zahawi had been previously praised for helping roll out the coronavirus vaccine programme, which ended punishing lockdown restrictions. His political stock was rising fast, helping him secure the chancellor and then party chairmanship roles.File photo: Nadhim Zahawi previously served as chancellor and education secretary More