Born in Baghdad in 1967 to Kurdish parents, Zahawi came to the UK aged nine when his family fled Iraq as Saddam Hussein began to take control of the country's government in 1976.
Raised in Sussex, Zahawi was privately educated at the King's College School in Wimbledon and went on to study chemical engineering at University College London.
In 2000 he co-founded the internet polling firm YouGov in his garden shed and remained its chief executive until his election to parliament.
His political career began in 1994 as a councillor in the London Borough of Wandsworth, a position he maintained until 2006. He was also a member of the team behind Jeffrey Archer's failed bid to become London Mayor in 1999.
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