LABOUR MP John Mann yesterday called for PM Cameron to resign in light of the ongoing scandal regarding Cameron’s father’s offshore bank account, exposed in the Panama Papers.
Mann said: ‘The question is one of honesty here, he has covered this up. Particularly importantly during the 2010 election campaign and he has got to resign. He has no choice. Cameron has been less than honest. He should resign immediately. Most decent people would expect nothing less.’
It was on Monday when the Panama Papers exposed top bosses and bankers and people in positions of power who had bank accounts with billions of pounds on ‘treasure island’ tax havens, most of them British colonies. It was not until Thursday, that PM Cameron finally admitted he had owned shares in the offshore fund set up by his late father.
This is after initially refusing to answer questions regarding his father’s account. On Monday Cameron’s spokeswoman said: ‘That is a private matter.’ On Tuesday Cameron said: ‘I have no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds, nothing like that. And, so that, I think, is a very clear description.’
Later that day, Downing Street said: ‘To be clear, the prime minister, his wife and their children do not benefit from any offshore funds. The prime minister owns no shares.’ He now states that he had £30,000 worth of shares in 2010, but sold them before he entered Number 10 and had paid all UK taxes due on profits from the sale.
A demonstration takes place today outside 10 Downing street at 11am demanding ‘Time for him to resign!’ Organisers say that people going along are invited to dress for the occasion: ‘Because so many UK companies are based in Panama, the British Virgin Islands and other tropical tax haven hotspots, we want to make them feel at home. Hawaiian shirts, tropical colours, sunglasses and (of course) Panama hats. If you’ve got a blow up beach ball, then bring that along.’
A Facebook group set up to promote the protest says: ‘Iceland wouldn’t put up with their crooked Prime Minister, and neither should we. It’s now clear that David Cameron and his family have benefited hugely from offshore tax havens. All the while he lectures us on how morally wrong it is, and how his government is closing tax havens down.’ The Facebook group went on to allege: ‘He’s a liar and a hypocrite. Time for him to resign!’
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Owen Smith said there were now ‘doubts about the prime minister’s trustworthiness’, accusing him of ‘speaking out of both sides of his mouth’ in recent days and calling on him to publish details of all his past investments.
