Today on Daily Politics, David Cameron was again asked about Lord Ashcroft’s tax status – is the party vice-president, the guru of the marginal seats campaign, registered to pay tax in this country? As ever, Cameron had no answer – “You’ll have to ask him about his own tax status,” he replied. He knows this reply looks shifty and evasive and the Ashcroft Problem is one which Channel Four Dispatches look at this evening. I’m interviewed as part of it.
I say in the documentary that the party owes Ashcroft a great deal. He’s a billionaire who could do anything with his life. For kicks, he goes helps Tories win seats and trounce socialists, and you have to admire that – if you’re not a Labour MP in a marginal seat, that is. His operation is regularly described to me as the best-functioning part of CCHQ (not saying much, mind you). And it works, as the News of the World showed when it polled marginal seats just after last year’s Tory conference and showed a thin Tory lead – as opposed to the five-point Labour lead nationally. Ashcroft never takes a bow, but his work had a major effect in cancelling the election that could have cancelled the Cameron premiership.
But there is no denying that Lord Ashcroft’s tax status is an growing embarrassment. I suspect that Ashcroft feels untouchable, having seen off several media investigations into him. But it still looks dodgy, and as the election approaches there will be mounting questions as to why a man so crucial to Cameron’s operation may no be domiciled in Britain for tax purposes. It’s a problem that will not go away.
P.S. I’ll have to watch it on 4OD tomorrow. Spectator party tonight, the social event of the week, and I’ll be damned if we don’t get a glass of champagne into Cameron’s or Osborne’s hand by the end of the night.
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