There is widespread reporting this morning of UK Uncut's "award ceremony" for Dave Hartnett. For some reason I can't embed the video right now, but you can see it here.
Were UK Uncut right to do this? Yes: decidedly so. They caused no harm; this was peaceful protest. They showed Hartnett mixing with people who wished to call UK Uncut "trespassing scum" and who wanted "to set the dogs on them." Remind you of Andrew Mitchell anyone? In the process it is clear by his presence that Hartnett showed in whose interests he thought he was running HMRC. These were the people he wined and dined regularly.
I should add that way back he once lunched me (at the Cinnamon Club, of course). And he also invited me to speak at HM Treasury. That was in the days when Dave said he was going to make sure tax avoidance did not pay and he thought I might be of use to him. But Dave changed his mind about making tax avoidance pay and we've all paid the price for that.
UK Uncut have rightly drawn attention to this.
We don't need Hartnett's like again.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
There are links to this blog's glossary in the above post that explain technical terms used in it. Follow them for more explanations.
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
Buy me a coffee!
It was indeed Robert Venables QC that threatened “to set the dogs” on the “trespassing scum”.
Can you confirm for sure?
Curious as he is definitely an offshore expert
absolutely. the ever reliable Andrew Goodall of the Tax Journal carried the story. http://www.taxjournal.com/tj/articles/protestors-target-former-hmrc-chief-tax-conference
[…] be irresponsible beyond most people’s imaginations, but it appeals to the rich and powerful. The sort who treat protest like scum and want to turn the dogs on people. Â The sort who call the police […]
Exactly what I thought when I watched the YouTube clip – Plebgate!
They were certainly right, Richard, and should be applauded for their work. Not surprising at all that we see Andrew Mitchell clones in the audience. No doubt they know to avoid using the P word now and thought ‘scum’ more acceptable.
As far as Hartnett goes, interesting to know that he flirted briefly with your views. That was certainly a while ago, becaus efor as long as I’ve had an interest in HMRC it’s always been clear where his sympathies lay, no doubt informed by where he could make the greatest amount of money once he left public office. In short, simply another public servant who became a lickspittle for the 1%. Unfortunately for us – and many who work(ed) at HMRC – he had the authority and power to take the organisation down with him.
like this one, the last govt was more interested in the views of the finance directors of the FTSE 100 than in whay you or I think, so being the mandarin he was, Hartnett adjusted accordingly. with ‘business leaders’ singing his praises to No 10, he duly got his CB and was about to get his knighthoob before Private Eye got their claws into his podgy frame.
I agree it was peaceful, but no matter how justified it is it isn’t polite to barge into a dinner and start insulting the guest of honour, so there is little reason why anybody in attendance should aim to be incredibly polite in response.
If I was having dinner and somebody turned up uninvited and insulted my guest I don’t think I would be particularly polite to them. The suggestion that the dogs will be unleashed is more a comedy moment than a serious insult and the word “scum” is hardly the most offensive thing I have ever heard.
Oh dear, you don’t get nuance, do you?
The lesson is don’t invite the ex Head of HMRC to speak at a seminar about avoiding tax. I can’t understand why this is even allowed. Can’t HMRC introduce some kind of gag on ex staff ? Do ex military staff hand all our secrets to the enemy ?
.
It was particularly delightful to hear the audience clapping when the presentation of the Golden Handshake award began – until it dawned on them that ‘it was not a good thing’.
[…] Were UK Uncut right to bounce Dave Hartnett? (Tax Research UK) Categorized under: Finance, Politics. Tagged with: no tags. […]
They most certainly were right. They were polite, funny, embarrassed those who need to be embarrassed, and drew a very revealing respop0nse from “ScumMan”! I am amazed that there is so little protest about these – and other – financial scandals. I think that Naomi Klein was spot-on with her analysis in Shock Doctrine (if you haven’t read it, please read it): people will put up with pretty much anything if they are sufficiently sacred, shocked worried, stunned by events, or by doom-laden and, in terms of, eg, Nick Clegg’s speech, misleading rhetoric.
Well done those youngsters!