There has, apparently, been some disquiet about the Guardian attacking David Cameron's late father's tax arrangements, which were reported in the Guardian yesterday. The New Statesman did, for example, refer to this matter. I admit I have no such disquiet.
Cameron heads a party that believes in wealth, and the importance of passing it from generation to generation to maintain a position of privilege. Cameron's being prime minister is not as a result of his own efforts. He's prime minister precisely because of inherited wealth and position and precisely because his father's tax haven activities paid for Cameron to go to Eton, to be in the Bullingdon and to have the connections that sent him on the way to Number 10.
If Cameron did not seek to perpetuate inherited privilege and wealth we could ignore his father's way of earning a living, but he does argue that the son is the heir of his father - in which case his father's means of buying him his privilege are entirely fair game for political debate and those who say otherwise ignore the reality of the Tory position.
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More importantly than that, there was a footnote in the Guardian report which noted that the report referred to Ian Cameron’s ‘English’ will, and that the money disposed of there did not match Ian Cameron’s estimated estate at the time of death.
Is it really any worse than a labour leader who is the son of a leading labour activist and the younger brother of a leading labour parliamentarian?
Isn’t the truth is that unless you have strong connections and devote yourself to politics from an early age you don’t stand a chance of becoming a political leader in Britain? Isn’t that the problem?
Oh, in part, I agree
But only in very small part
Thank you Richard for this interesting insight. I hadn’t much thought before about the impact on a person of his/her parents’ (and probably even grandparents’) tax behaviour. You’re right —it impacts where you went to school, how you speak, who you associate with, what you do in life — everything.
And of course, once you get into elected office, it impacts on that person’s appetite (or lack of) to tackle serious tax abuse, which whilst technically legal, is illegal because it goes contrary to the spirit of the law and is not tax compliance.
David Cameron is prime Minister. Why didn’t he do anything about his father’s conduct? The answer is obvious. Neo-liberalism smattered with a hatred of democracy.
How can we even trust any of our politicians unless they finally come clean with their tax affairs, and those of their parents and grandparents? Such information must be disclosed before elections by law — in the interests of transparency. Especially the tories and UKIP, and definitely BNP. Otherwise how do we know who we are voting for?
As an exemption: we should not require this of candidates who do not believe in inherited wealth (eg Green Party).
“which whilst technically legal, is illegal because it goes contrary to the spirit of the law and is not tax compliance.”
If anyone can help me understand this sentence, be my guest.