Nadhim Zahawi instructed his lawyer to threaten legal action against a tax campaigner who helped reveal that the then chancellor was under investigation by HM Revenue and Customs, according to a tribunal document. Zahawi’s solicitor, Ashley Hurst, is accused of breaching his regulator’s code of conduct by attempting to prevent Dan Neidle from publishing correspondence threatening legal action over the tax expert’s revelations about the then Tory leadership candidate.
Oooh, handbags! Lawyers vs journalists!
A document setting out the regulator’s case against Hurst, the head of client strategy at Osborne Clarke, says: “The inappropriate request made to Mr Neidle was an attempt to prevent public scrutiny of the decision by the then chancellor of the exchequer to resort to instructing a solicitor to write on his behalf and threaten legal action.
“Whilst it is not asserted that this threat was necessarily inappropriate, the attempt to prevent publication or discussion that such a threat had been made by a member of the government was, in the context of this case, inappropriate. Acting in such a manner is conduct that would serve to damage the public’s trust and confidence in the profession, and on that basis a breach.”
Oh, bless! You think they have a reputation to lose...!
