No, the belated sacking of Nadhim Zahawi does not stop Rishi Sunak being weak

Perhaps Rishi Sunak believes that his belated sacking of Nadhim Zahawi will quiet accusations that he is a weak prime minister.

Dismissing someone only when it becomes inevitable does not stop you being weak, just as paying your tax only when you are caught avoiding it does not stop you being a tax avoider.

Giving a tax avoider his P45 with a letter saying “you should be extremely proud of your wide-ranging achievements” is weak.

Keeping your deputy prime minister in post despite formal bullying complaints by at least 24 civil servants is weak.

Keeping your home secretary in post when she falsely talks of a migrant invasion and uses the Home Office to attempt to bully a charity into deleting edited footage of her tin-eared response to a Holocaust survivor is weak.

Keeping the BBC chairman in post despite him failing to declare his part in organising a massive loan for Boris Johnson during his pre-appointment hearing is weak.

Failing to censure Jonathan Gullis after he shouted “well, they shouldn’t have come here illegally” during a debate about missing migrant children is weak.

Failing to come to a sensible compromise with striking NHS workers over pay, or the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol, is weak.

Because, as with all the above signs of weakness, they are being done to appease the fundamentalist wing of the prime minister’s party, which – for now – props him up as long as he goes along with their various madnesses.

The greatest weakness of all, and one that cannot be righted for the same reason, is a failure to acknowledge and correct the disaster of Brexit, now costing Britain £40 billion a year during a financial crisis. It is the black hole at the core of the British economy, sucking everything else into its void.

Until Rishi Sunak recognises this and works to undo it, he will remain the weakest, most dithering of prime ministers at a time when strong, decisive action is needed most.