British Prime Minister David Cameron is in trouble. According to the Times of London, the PM’s father is involved in the offshore tax scandal that broke earlier this week.
Although Cameron doesn’t have money put away in any tax safe havens, his father, who died in 2010, did. And that’s causing major trouble for the beleaguered prime minister who already has a big headache because of the upcoming referendum on Britain’s EU membership, a vote he, a EU lover, may very well lose.
Blairmore Holdings, set up by Ian Cameron in 1982, held board meetings abroad and allegedly placed up to 50 Caribbean officers including a lay bishop in executive positions to legally avoid being taxed as a British company.
Ironically, Cameron the younger banned bearer shares — which can be used to hide ownership and money transfers without a paper trail — last year. From the looks of it, however, his own dad benefited from them when he was still alive.
His response? While he lashed out at individuals and companies that were guilty of tax evasions last year, he’s now suddenly much softer:
Last night Mr Cameron said that his family’s tax affairs were a private matter. Downing Street would not be drawn on whether the Cameron family still had a stake in the fund.
So when his own family is involved tax affairs are a “private matter,” but when other people are involved they’re dragged through the mud and blasted for “costing” the government money. That’s, apparently, how the Tory leader rolls.
The new information about Cameron’s father comes at a precarious time because the prime minister is scheduled to host an anti-corruption summit next month. The political opposition will surely jump on this to blast him for being a hypocrite. Which, of course, he is.
Now, the PM’s office denies that he has any shares in his father’s (former) company, but what they forget to mention is that he inherited £300,000 from his father when he died, which is $425,000. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Cameron may, therefore, very well have benefited from his father’s schemes.
I can only imagine the fun Labour, UKIP and the LibDems will have with this information.
Buckle up, David, it’s going to be one hell of a ride!
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