Reform MP Nadhim Zahawi has proposed deploying the military to the streets of London, citing concerns about the city’s safety. Zahawi, who recently switched from the Tory party, expressed these views during an interview on LBC.
When asked by the host whether he felt secure in London, Zahawi replied, “No, and I’m a big guy. It’s worrying that I don’t feel safe letting my 13-year-old walk around London—that’s simply unacceptable.”
He further elaborated, “If I were Home Secretary, I’d contact the police chief and say, ‘If you need assistance, we’ll deploy the army.’
Interestingly, new crime figures reveal that London has experienced the lowest homicide rates in ten years, with just over one unlawful killing (1.07) per 100,000 residents reported last year.
Zahawi, aged 58, also expressed gratitude towards Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire owner of Manchester United. Ratcliffe had stirred controversy with his comments earlier this week, stating the UK had been “colonized” by immigrants.
LBC host James O’Brien responded to Zahawi’s military deployment suggestion by noting, “Deploying the army costs local councils £4,000 per soldier each week.”
‘So you’re calling for other taxpayers to pay that while you’re on the hook for £5million to the England revenue for avoiding paying your own share.’
Mr Zahawi was sacked as Tory Party chairman in 2023 after an ethics inquiry found he had failed to disclose that HMRC was investigating his taxes. He subsequently paid nearly £5million to settle his tax affairs.
Nadhim Zahawi said it was time to send in the army because the streets of London didn’t ‘feel safe’ anymore – despite crime statistics in the capital being a record low
James O’Brien continued: ‘Whilst £17billion [in taxes] is paid by? Immigrants in the UK.’
Mr Zahawi recalled an incident that left him feeling unsafe, saying: ‘Yesterday I walked from my home in one of the most upmarket areas of London and an individual walked past me.
‘I literally walked off the pavement into the middle of the road, kept a very close eye, at 8am.
‘He just looked like he hadn’t slept for a week and just looked like somebody that might be violent, I don’t know, but I just walked away from the pavement.’
London Mayor Sadiq Khan responded to Mr Zahawi’s comments that he needed to ‘stop being a pound shop version of Donald Trump’.
He said: ‘Rather than trying to copy Donald Trump, why not talk about our capital city?
‘We are the tech capital of Europe, the second biggest tech place in the world, cultural capital of the world, the music capital of the world.
‘Rather than talking our capital city down, why doesn’t the Reform Party behave like true patriots and talk our capital city up instead of copying the ideas of Donald Trump and JD fans? Think for yourself, man.’
Former Tory chancellor Nadhim Zahawi was all smiles as he posed alongside Nigel Farage to announce his defection, despite having once branded his vision for Britain as ‘frightening’ and calling the Reform leader ‘racist’
Mr Zahawi went on to ‘thank’ Jim Ratcliffe for his comments on immigration this week, saying: ‘I thank Jim Ratcliffe because actually his, erm, misspeaking has raised the debate to a level where people like Nigel (Farage) are saying let’s talk about this.
‘Let’s just discuss is this really sustainable or should we have a big change in our country about how we deal with migration?
‘You walk down the Edgware Road, walk down parts of Birmingham, you know, lots of parts of our country, I would much rather see, like my parents did, integration.
‘Be proud of where you live.’
Mr Zahawi also criticised West Midland Police’s handling of the grooming gangs scandal, saying: ‘It’s the same with the rape gangs.
‘The reason they never dealt with it at the time was because it was too difficult because they might be labelled racist, that’s why they didn’t actually take those poor girls seriously.’
He also spoke about an alleged incident whereby a cinema manager showed a film that ‘offended a group of people’, who ‘were supposed to be talking to him but of course all had their faces covered and were very aggressive, and they took the film off’.
The former Tory MP, who defected to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Party on January 12, said he regretted ‘not doing this stuff’ or standing up to more issues when his former party was in power.
He was criticised by his fellow Tory MPs after turning to Reform, as Conservatives said their ex-chancellor only defected after ‘begging’ in vain for a peerage.
Mr Zahawi joined Farage’s party despite previously branding him ‘racist’.
He also denied that he had been promised a peerage by Reform or a specific role in a future government led by Mr Farage, saying he was only a ‘foot soldier’ in his new party.
Last month, Scotland Yard had to defend London’s reputation after President Trump’s repeated criticisms of the capital.
Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Matt Jukes said that London ‘does not deserve the reputation which it is sometimes given’ in what is bound to be seen as a thinly veiled dig at the US President’s recent jibes about safety in the capital.
New figures showed there was just over one unlawful killing (1.07) per 100,000 people last year – an historic low for the capital.
Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley paid tribute to the results of ‘relentless work’ to drive down violent crime in the capital, despite claims from the likes of the US President that London has ‘no go’ areas.
He added: ‘The results speak for themselves – fewer lives lost, fewer families shattered.
‘Every murder is a tragedy, but we will continue to use every tool at our disposal to drive down serious violence.
‘This work will not stop, and neither will our determination to keep Londoners safe.’
The Deputy Commissioner told reporters he would not ‘get involved’ in political commentary, but said the figures proved the criticism was unfounded.
