Them&Us


Tory tax dodging

“Morally repugnant” – that was David Cameron’s description of tax avoidance in the midst of the Jimmy Carr scandal. But it has emerged that, on top of the Tories being funded by non-doms and many of their leaders being well versed in tax avoidance themselves, the party is encouraging supporters to make use of tax loopholes. The Conservative Party Foundation, led by figures like Tory treasurer Lord Fink, has been urging people to leave money to the party in their wills because this would reduce the inheritance tax their family has to pay. Last year this raised the party £260,494. Repugnant indeed.

Blair’s bags of cash

Many of us have felt our stomachs churn at Tony Blair’s push back into the public eye recently. The phrase ‘hanging around like a bad smell’ springs to mind. Obviously he misses the limelight – apparently he “feels like an alien in his own country”. But he hasn’t been doing too badly for himself since we last saw him. He made more than £20 million last year – mainly from offering his ‘advice services’ to governments in the Middle East and Kazakhstan. He’s also paid £2.5 million a year by US investment bank JP Morgan.

Keep it in the family

£170,000 – enough to buy a house for most of us. But for the royals it’s just enough for redecorating. This is what Charles and Camilla paid to have their holiday cottages (yes that’s plural) refurbished. The over-priced decorator? Camilla’s sister, Annabel Elliot. No wonder Prince Charles’ spending went up £723,000 last year.

Last year the royals cost us an extra £200,000. But don’t worry, they say they are working hard to cut back on spending… by freezing their staff’s pay which has been going on for three years. So much for we’re all in this together.

Iain Dalton