Facebook group on Lord Ashcroft’s tax status piles on the pressure

The reason for the Tories' growing discomfort on the issue of Lord Ashcroft is that continuing lack of clarity about his tax status undermines their positioning

The Information Commissioner recently described the Conservatives as “evasive and obfuscatory” over Lord Ashcroft’s tax status, so it wasn’t surprising that shadow chancellor George Osborne and shadow communities secretary Eric Pickles sounded increasingly flustered this weekend as they tried to hold the line that Lord Ashcroft’s tax affairs are solely a matter for him.

The Tories have been very adept at positioning themselves on the side of the angels when it comes to party funding, MPs’ expenses and the broad issue of reforming the political system.

The reason for their growing discomfort on the issue of Lord Ashcroft is that continuing lack of clarity about his tax status fundamentally undermines their positioning on these issues.

So it is timely that a Facebook group has been set up calling for transparency on Lord Ashcroft’s tax status.  However, the principle that all parliamentarians should be resident in the UK for tax purposes is universal and holds true for Labour and other politicians too.

So far the group has attracted nearly 1,000 members including Alastair Campbell; Labour MPs Gordon Prentice, Willie Bain, Greg Pope, Derek Wyatt, Andy Slaughter, Annette Brooke, David Wright, Paddy Tipping and Bridget Prentice; Liberal Democrat shadow home secretary Chris Huhne

Labour PPCs such as Daniel Zeichner (Cambridge), Luciana Berger (Liverpool Wavertree), Andy King (Rugby), Emily Benn (East Worthing and Shoreham), Jonathan Todd (Westmorland and Lonsdale) and Greg Lovell (Chippenham) and Jessica Asato of Progress have also signed.

The group has spawned a petition stating that the Conservative Party should reveal the tax status of Lord Ashcroft. More than 600 have signed in a week.

The Tories are vulnerable on this issue because it goes to the heart of voters’ doubts about the true agenda of David Cameron and his lieutenants. Scratch beneath the surface and there are rich seams (excuse the pun) which Labour can use to expose Tory hypocrisy on some of the most fundamental issues of our age. 

So when voters hear George Osborne rushing to demand that the Government mimic President Obama’s banking clampdown, Labour politicians should be reminding voters just who it is that funds many of the back offices of leading Tories, including Osborne – multi-millionaire hedge fund managers and investment bankers, as the Financial Times revealed on Saturday.

• Join the Facebook group here

Our guest writer is John Slinger

20 Responses to “Facebook group on Lord Ashcroft’s tax status piles on the pressure”

  1. Peter Good

    Has Lord Paul joined the campaign???

  2. AndyG

    RT @leftfootfwd Facebook group on Lord Ashcroft’s tax status piles on the pressure: http://is.gd/8voQV

  3. FX Man

    Are you starting a Facebook Group on Lord Paul as well? Or is this the usual “Do as I say… not as I do…”?

  4. Jessica Asato

    RT @leftfootfwd: Facebook group on Lord Ashcroft’s tax status piles on the pressure: http://is.gd/8voQV <I signed up to it!

  5. Mark

    I see the two comments above already point out some double-standards. Surely this should be about improving transparency and party funding, not some “Get Ashcroft” rant.

    I also note the blog post says “just who it is that funds many of the back offices of leading Tories, including Osborne – multi-millionaire hedge fund managers and investment bankers” when we all know these same types have funded Labour for years

    Sir Ronald Cohen, owner of the the Apax, the UK’s largest private equity operation, has donated millions to Labour and Gordon Brown’s personal office. He and his colleagues have been massive and direct beneficiaries of the huge cuts to Capital Gains Tax passed soon after Brown became Chancellor in 1997. City Minister Lord Myners is a former director of hedge fund GLG and Brown’s minister Lady Vadera was very senior at investment bank UBS.

    Donations are fickle. Money follows whoever is going to get into office. Bleating about it after 13 years in office only risks making Labour look equally fickle, many were happy to woo the City for years, sacrificing prawns and championing “light touch regulation” so they should not cry when it backfires.

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