This is another big development about the Panama Papers. If ya need some background on what it’s all about, we got ya covered.
Uh oh, Davey.
The Panama Papers leak has set journalists and activists on a warpath, and they’ve got a new target: British Prime Minister David Cameron. He’s come out and admitted something that he’s denied vociferously over the past few days: that he profited from a Panama-based offshore account set up by his late father.
He confessed that he owned shares in the fund, which he sold for £31,500 juuuust before becoming PM in 2010. Phew. Lucky break. But the stress ain’t over for ole pigfucker Cameron.
He says he has no way of knowing whether the £300,000 he inherited from his father upon the latter’s death was partially raised through offshore investments. “I obviously can’t point to the source of every bit of money and dad’s not around for me to ask the questions now,” Cameron said.
Labour MP John Mann, who has been part of the chorus grilling Cameron over this investment for the past few days, says the PM should resign. Richard Burgon, the Shadow Treasury Minister, went in harder:
“After four days of refusing to answer this question David Cameron has now finally been forced to admit he directly benefited from Blairmore, a company which paid no tax in 30 years. He must now further clarify whether or not he or his family were benefiting directly or indirectly in 2013 when he was lobbying to prevent EU measures to better regulate trusts as a way to clamp down on tax avoidance.”
Yeesh. For his part, Cameron claims that he paid income tax on these earnings nut not capital gains tax, which he says did not apply in this case. Yet the heat is still on, and the ball is in Cameron’s court as to why he didn’t tell the truth initially.
We’ll see how this one plays out, but it looks like the leak has claimed another head. Whether or not this knocks Cameron off his perch, it’s a massive stain on his credibility on issues around tax.
Source: The Guardian.
Image: Getty Images / Dan Kitwood.
