By Chris Mason, Political Editor & Francesca Gillett
BBC News
Nadhim Zahawi paid a penalty as part of his tax dispute with HM Revenue & Customs, the BBC has been told.
The Conservative Party chairman is facing claims he tried to avoid tax and had to pay it back. On Saturday he said he did make a payment to HMRC to settle the issue.
It was previously reported the money he paid included a penalty, but this had not been confirmed.
On Sunday evening, Mr Zahawi's allies insisted he would continue in his role.
The BBC also understands the tax issue was resolved while Mr Zahawi was chancellor between July and September last year - and the total amount paid is in region of what has been reported, of about £5m.
Pressure has been growing on Mr Zahawi to give more details about his finances after reports emerged this week he had agreed to pay millions of pounds to HMRC to settle his tax affairs.
The tax was related to a shareholding in YouGov, the polling company he co-founded in 2000 before he became an MP.
According to HMRC, tax avoidance involves bending the rules of the tax system to try to gain a tax advantage that Parliament never intended. It is legal and includes things that some people would consider to be normal tax planning.
Penalties can be applied by HMRC if tax is not paid in the correct amount at the right time.
Mr Zahawi has not confirmed how much his penalty amounted to, nor the total value of the final settlement with HMRC.
In a statement this weekend, Mr Zahawi said he had made an error in his taxes, but that it was "careless and not deliberate".
But Labour said there were a whole list of questions that still needed answers - and called on him to publish all his correspondence with HMRC "so we can get the full picture". Labour also said there are questions over the timing.
Although the BBC has been told the issue with HMRC was resolved while Mr Zahawi was chancellor - and the minister ultimately responsible for HMRC - but it is still not clear when he originally became aware of it.
His allies claim he told the government's Propriety and Ethics Team - which is in charge of ensuring ethics across government departments - about it before his appointment as chancellor.
And after having become chancellor, Mr Zahawi did not seek to challenge HMRC's demands, but instructed his accountants to pay all of what they said was due, the BBC has been told.
On Sunday, senior Conservative Sir Iain Duncan Smith then joined the calls for more scrutiny, urging Mr Zahawi to release "the absolute facts" and "get it all out now, whatever you have to do and clear it up".
But he defended Mr Zahawi, saying he did not believe he was "deceitful".
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said it was for Mr Zahawi to decide "how much detail to put in the public domain".
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The BBC was previously told on Saturday that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was satisfied with Mr Zahawi's account and has confidence in him as chairman of the Conservative Party.
Who is Nadhim Zahawi?
Nadhim Zahawi was announced as chancellor on 5 July 2022, hours after the resignation of Rishi Sunak from Boris Johnson's government.
He was previously education secretary and before that, coronavirus vaccines minister. He was made minister for equalities, minister for intergovernmental relations, and chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster under Liz Truss.
Mr Sunak appointed him as Conservative Party chairman and minister without portfolio, attending cabinet, on 25 October.
Mr Zahawi has been the Conservative MP for Stratford-on-Avon since 2010.
Like his mother and father, they are likely to be taken in the gold state coach, which is reserved for coronations and jubilees.
Up to a million people travelled to London to watch the coach along the Mall in 1953.
Image:Crowds in Trafalgar Square on the day of the Queen's coronation
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2:22
King coronation details announced
The ceremony will be broadcast live on television, but the number of guests who attend in person is expected to be cut from 8,000 to 2,000.
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It is thought it will be shorter than the previous one - lasting just over an hour instead of three.
Peers will wear suits and formal dresses as opposed to ceremonial robes and many of the traditional rituals, including the presentation of gold ingots, will not feature this time.
In a statement, Buckingham Palace said: "The coronation will reflect the monarch's role today and look towards the future, while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry."
Queen Elizabeth's son and heir wanted to follow a similar ethos of recognising community heroes and bringing people together, by encouraging street parties on Sunday 7 May and a day of volunteering events on Monday 8 May.
After the ceremony, the King and Queen Consort will be joined by other family members on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to conclude the day's ceremonial events.
It is still unknown whether Prince Harry and wife Meghan will be among those attending.
Image:Queen Elizabeth and the Royal Family watching the Platinum Jubilee RAF flypast
Six-part ceremony
There are six parts to the coronation - the recognition, oath, anointing, investiture, enthronement and homage.
The recognition sees the monarch stand in the theatre - the central part of the Abbey - and turn to the north, south, east and west to "show himself unto the people".
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will then declare him the "undoubted King".
This ritual dates back to Anglo-Saxon times.
Image:The Queen's funeral was held at Westminster Abbey
Second is the coronation oath, which will see the King promise to reign according to law, exercise justice with mercy and maintain the Church of England.
He will then be presented with the Sword of State and declare at the altar: "The things which I have here before promised, I will perform, and keep. So help me God", before kissing the Bible and signing the oath.
The third part - the anointing - follows, which is the process of blessing and consecrating the new monarch with holy oil - the central act of the religious ceremony. The King will remove his crimson robe and sit in King Edward's Chair.
Fourthly, the investiture is the official crowning.
It will see the King dressed in special robes and presented with the orb, coronation ring, sceptre and rod.
Sitting in King Edward's Chair, he will be crowned with St Edward's Crown before the congregation shouts out "God Save the King".
Image:The Queen carries the orb and sceptre during her coronation ceremony in 1953
This is followed by the enthroning, which will see the monarch lifted onto a different throne by archbishops, bishops and "other peers of the kingdom".
The final stage of the King's coronation is known as homage.
It sees the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Prince of Wales and other royal blood princes paying tribute to the King by placing their hands between his and kissing his right hand.
Image:Queen Elizabeth II wears St Edward's Crown
Camilla to be crowned
The Queen Consort will then also be crowned.
Unlike the wives of Kings, the husbands of Queens do not become King Consorts and are therefore not crowned.
Instead the Duke of Edinburgh "paid homage" to Queen Elizabeth II immediately after the formal coronation - as Prince William and other princes are likely to do this time.
The Queen Mother was anointed and crowned during her husband's coronation in 1937.
According to the Royal Family's website: "A Queen consort is crowned with the King, in a similar but simpler ceremony."
The coronation concert
On Sunday, the day after the coronation, "global music icons and contemporary stars" descend on Windsor Castle for the coronation concert.
Thousands of members of the public will be selected to receive a pair of free tickets, which are up for grabs through a national ballot held by the BBC, which will also broadcast the event live.
Image:Queen guitarist Brian May performs during the Platinum Jubilee concert. Pic: AP
The "world's biggest entertainers" and world-class orchestras will be supported by a selection of dancers and spoken word sequences delivered by stars of stage and screen.
The Coronation Choir will also perform, created from members of the nation's community choirs and amateur singers such as refugee choirs, NHS choirs and LGBTQ+ singing groups, in part to make the weekend feel as inclusive and diverse as possible.
The centrepiece of the coronation concert, dubbed by the palace as "lighting up the nation", will see landmarks across the UK lit up using projections, lasers, drone displays and illuminations.
Image:The Platinum Jubilee concert, June 2022. Pic: AP
Others will be invited to gather at the Eden Project in Cornwall, for a "coronation big lunch", overseen by The Big Lunch, an incentive which the Queen Consort has been patron of for 10 years.
Bank holiday Monday dubbed 'the big help out'
Coronations have traditionally fallen on weekdays, which have been declared bank holidays to allow the public to get involved by either watching on TV or crowding the streets in London.
As King Charles's coronation will fall on a Saturday, Monday 8 May has been set as a bank holiday in all four nations of the UK.
The day is being billed as "the big help out" and has been set aside for volunteering to help highlight the positive impact volunteering has on communities.
Organised by The Together Coalition and a wide range of partners such as The Scouts, the Royal Voluntary Service and faith groups from across the UK, the palace said it will be in tribute to the King's public service and will help "encourage people to try volunteering for themselves".
The government has already launched a consultation on extending pub opening hours throughout the coronation weekend, meaning pubs in England and Wales could be allowed to stay open until 1am from Friday to Sunday.
A man has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving after two cyclists were killed in a road crash in South Yorkshire.
Emergency services attended the scene of the crash on Royston Road, Cudworth, Barnsley at 9.07pm on Friday following reports of a collision between a car and two bikes.
Despite the best efforts of paramedics, two men were pronounced dead at the scene, and police are working to formally identify them.
South Yorkshire Police said the vehicle involved, believed to be a red Volkswagen Golf, failed to stop and was later found abandoned around three miles away in Bleak Avenue, Shafton.
The force said a 37-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
Officers are also working to trace another man in connection with the incident.
Anyone who witnessed the incident or was driving in the area at the time and may have seen the car or bikes involved, and particularly those with dashcam footage, have been urged to contact the force.
World-famous entertainers will perform at Windsor Castle as part of a weekend of celebrations to mark the King's coronation, it has been announced.
The concert will be broadcast on the BBC on 7 May featuring "global music icons", orchestras and a diverse "coronation choir".
It will come the day after the coronation at Westminster Abbey.
Processions to and from the abbey will take place, ending with a balcony appearance at Buckingham Palace.
These are among the new details just released on plans for the weekend which the King and Queen Consort hope will be an opportunity for friends, families and communities to celebrate together, said Buckingham Palace.
The concert choir will be picked from amateur choirs, including from the NHS, refugees, LGBTQ+ singing groups and deaf-signing choirs, reflecting the aim to make this a more inclusive coronation, which mixes the ancient and modern aspects.
There will be a laser and drone lightshow, but in an end to another tradition, there are no plans for beacons to be lit around the country.
Coronation weekend:
Saturday 6 May: Coronation service in Westminster Abbey; coronation procession; Buckingham Palace balcony
Sunday 7 May: Concert and lightshow at Windsor Castle; Coronation Big Lunch street parties
Monday 8 May: Extra bank holiday; Big Help Out encouraging people to get involved in local volunteering
Victoria Jones
The line-up for the Windsor concert has still to be announced but organisers are promising "some of the world's biggest entertainers".
The event is expected to be a wide mix of music, dancing and a laser lightshow will be linked to the illumination of famous sites around the UK. For the Shakespeare-loving monarch there will be spoken-word performances from stage and screen stars.
Last year a concert was held outside Buckingham Palace for the late Queen's Platinum Jubilee, with music from pop performers such as Diana Ross and Sir Rod Stewart.
Street parties and local get-togethers will also be held on the Sunday, under the banner of the Coronation Big Lunch.
Supporting the local community will be encouraged on the bank holiday of Monday 8 May, with the Big Help Out, in which people will be urged to get involved in local volunteering projects.
Previous coronations have also included the monarch making a broadcast to the nation and official banquets for guests and visiting dignitaries.
Reuters
The coronation at Westminster Abbey will see the crowning of King Charles and the Queen Consort Camilla, in a service full of religious symbolism and pageantry.
The ceremony is expected to be a shorter, smaller and a more diverse occasion than for Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953.
That previous coronation lasted three hours and the ceremony for King Charles is expected to be considerably shorter.
Elements of the service could be reduced, such as the paying of homage, and a "claims office" is currently looking at which roles should be included.
Previous coronations have had historic roles such as the "rouge dragon pursuivant", "unicorn pursuivant" and carriers of the "golden spur" and the "white wand".
There were more than 8,000 guests for the 1953 coronation, while the ceremony in May is expected to be smaller, with Westminster Abbey usually having a capacity of about 2,200.
Although it remains uncertain whether the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be part of the congregation - with Prince Harry in a recent TV interview not confirming his attendance if invited.
The coronation procession is expected to be more modest. In 1953, there were 16,000 participants in a procession that took 45 minutes to pass any stationary point on the 7km (4.3 miles) route.
This time round the King and Queen Consort will arrive at the abbey from the palace, in the King's procession and return in a larger Coronation procession, joined by other members of the Royal Family. It is not yet confirmed who will then appear with them on the balcony at Buckingham Palace.
There have been suggestions that the dress code for those attending the coronation is likely to be more modern.
A more inclusive, multi-faith dimension is anticipated for the service, with representatives of a range of religions. There will be scrutiny of whether the coronation oath is updated to reflect a wider range of beliefs.
Attention will be paid to the cost of the state-funded coronation. According to the House of Commons Library, the coronation in 1953 cost the equivalent of £18.8m in 2021 prices.
Thousands of people protested in Dartmoor on Saturday in opposition to the loss of wild camping rights.
It comes after a decision by the high court to outlaw the long-held custom of camping on the moor without asking the landowner's permission.
Dartmoor National Park Authority has struck a deal with landowners to pay them to let wild camping take place.
Landowners said this would help to protect the land, but environmental groups argue it restricts access.
Environmental activist organisation Right to Roam, which organised the march, estimated 2,000 people took part.
The walk, which stretched for nearly a mile, went from the picturesque village of Cornwood up to the top of Stall Moor, which is owned by Mr and Mrs Darwall, who brought the original case against the park authority.
Many of the protesters were local, coming from Plymouth and other parts of Devon, but some travelled from as far as Essex and the Midlands.
The ongoing disagreement has gathered national interest because Dartmoor was the only area of England and Wales where under a local law there had been an assumed right to wild camp without the landowner's permission.
Protesters - a mixture of families, young people and older couples - have told the BBC wild camping brings them significant mental and physical benefits.
Julian Adams, who came over from the Isle of Wight, said: "All my childhood was spent here wandering around Dartmoor - it seemed a free, wild space and it's been taken away for the future generation. That's why I brought my kids up here to join the protest."
But the landowners - of which there are 15 - have seen the damaging impacts of wild camping.
Russell Ashford, a farmer whose land includes Buckfastleigh Moor, told the BBC that dozens of times a year he has to clean up after campers who do not treat the land with respect, including leaving behind human faeces.
"In terms of litter, there's beer cans, bottles, syringes sometimes. And there's a risk to people, a risk to animals grazing and a risk to the environment," he said.
He hopes the new system will allow him to use the funding to put up better signage and monitor any damage.
Rebecca Trebilcock, one of the volunteers at the march, who is an expedition leader for young people on Dartmoor, told the BBC: "I do empathise with the landowners, but it is a very small fraction of campers.
"Three point one million people visited Dartmoor last year, and only 100 people got in trouble".
She thinks that "education over privatisation" is the way forward.
Rebecca Trebilcock
But both the landowners and the protesters agree that funding for Dartmoor National Park Authority, which pays for rangers to manage the land, is tight.
Luke Pollard, Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, tweeted on Friday: "Dartmoor National Park has already had huge chunks of its budget slashed in Tory cuts since 2010 and now they're having to pay out more."
The government currently provides £49m to National Park Authorities in the UK.
A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokesperson did not comment on the funding issue, but said they "welcome the ongoing efforts of the authority and the local landowners to reach a resolution".
Labour is calling for Rishi Sunak to sack Nadhim Zahawi as Conservative Party chairman after reports he paid a penalty to HMRC as part of a multi-million pound tax settlement.
The ex-chancellor has been under pressure over claims he tried to avoid tax and has now had to pay it back.
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said Mr Zahawi's position was "untenable" and the prime minister must sack him.
The BBC has approached Mr Zahawi for comment on the latest allegations.
Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said Mr Zahawi had been "very transparent" about the matter, saying: "He has been clear that all of his tax owed to HMRC are up to date and paid in full.
He added: "If he needs to answer any further questions I'm sure he'll do so".
However, Ms Rayner said: "Nadhim Zahawi's story doesn't add up. The position of the man who was until recently in charge of the UK's tax system and who this prime minister appointed Conservative Party Chair is now untenable.
"It's time for Rishi Sunak to put his money where his mouth is and dismiss Nadhim Zahawi from his cabinet."
Ms Rayner added: "The fact that Nadhim hasn't been out on the airwaves explaining himself to me adds insult to injury."
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The company at the centre of the row is Balshore Investments, which is registered offshore in Gibraltar.
Mr Zahawi has faced questions over whether he used Balshore to hold shares in YouGov, the polling company he co-founded in 2000 - something he has always denied.
Labour have called for an explanation. According to The Guardian, he has had to pay back the tax he owed with a 30% penalty and the total amounts to £4.8m.
The BBC has been unable to verify that figure, but when the Guardian asked repeatedly about the penalty, Mr Zahawi's spokesperson did not deny one had been paid.
When pressed on the total amount, which was thought to include the alleged penalty, the spokesperson said: "Nadhim Zahawi does not recognise this amount … as he has previously stated, his taxes are properly declared and paid in the UK."
The BBC has discovered that Balshore Investments was also registered as a "beneficial owner" of a UK crowdfunding firm called crowd2Fund for three years.
Under transparency rules brought in by the coalition government in the UK, the firm should have made public who was personally in charge.
That is because Balshore owns more than 25% of Crowd2Fund's shares.
Although it is based in Gibraltar where beneficial owners can remain hidden, the UK requires this information to be made public.
Balshore was described as the "family trust of Nadhim Zahawi, an executive director of YouGov", in the polling firm's 2009 annual report.
But the Conservative Party chairman has denied benefiting from or having any involvement with the company.
A spokesperson for Mr Zahawi said it was a matter of public record that Balshore Investments is owned by his father, hence the YouGov reference to his family.
In June 2020, Crowd2Fund told Companies House that its Gibraltar-based shareholder had in fact ceased to be a beneficial owner in April 2016.
Companies are supposed to update these details within 14 days. But Crowd2Fund appears to have taken four years to register the information.
In June last year, Nadhim Zahawi's parents were personally recorded as beneficial owners of Crowd2Fund which indicates they now control the Gibraltar firm.
However, Balshore Investments has owned more than 25% of Crowd2Fund's shares since at least 2015.
That leaves a gap in the register explaining who ultimately benefited from the shareholding prior to June 2022.
BBC News asked both Crowd2Fund and Balshore Investments to explain what happened and if they would now disclose who the beneficial owners of Balshore were for the relevant period.
They were also asked if they accepted they may have broken the law if they failed to file the correct information with Companies House.
Neither Balshore Investments or Crowd2Fund has so far responded to requests for comment.
A spokesman for Mr Zahawi has previously said his taxes are "properly declared and paid in the UK" and the minister "has never had to instruct any lawyers to deal with HMRC on his behalf".
Fixed penalty notices are a sanction for breaking the law, and mean a fine, which needs to be paid within 28 days, or contested.
If someone chooses to contest the fine, the police will then review the case and decide whether to withdraw the fine or take the matter to court.
Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner said in a tweet that Mr Sunak was a "total liability".
A Labour Party spokesperson added: "Hapless Rishi Sunak's levelling-up photo op has blown up in his face and turned him into a laughing stock."
The Liberal Democrats said, in becoming the second ever serving prime minister to be fined by police, he had "shown the same disregard for the rules as Boris Johnson".
Deputy Lib Dem leader Daisy Cooper said: "From partygate to seatbelt gate, these Conservative politicians are just taking the British people for fools.
"Whilst they continue to behave as though it's one rule for them and another for everyone else, this fine is a reminder that the Conservatives eventually get their comeuppance."
But Conservative MP for Blackpool South Scott Benton defended Mr Sunak, saying "everybody makes mistakes".
Mr Benton said police should focus on "tackling serious crime in our communities", adding: "Let's keep this in proportion here. Every single year millions of Britons receive similar fixed penalty notices."
Passengers aged 14 and over are responsible for ensuring they wear a seat belt in cars, vans and other goods vehicles if one is fitted. Drivers are responsible for passengers under 14.
Exemptions include having a doctor's certificate for a medical reason, or being in a vehicle used for a police, fire or other rescue service.
