Hague: Churchill’s career would have been over if his finances were in spotlight
DAVID CAMERON, George Osborne and Boris Johnson were rebuked by Tory grandees today for rushing to publish their tax returns after the Panama Papers row.
Former party leader Lord Hague said war-time hero Winston Churchill was among historic statesmen whose chaotic personal finances would have seen their careers ruined if forced into the spotlight, and warned against expecting politicians to be “perfect”.
Former Tory treasurer Lord Ashcroft said making all politicians open their finances to scrutiny would do “more harm than good” and would “put normal people off entering politics”. The backlash followed the hasty publication of earnings and taxes paid by the leaderships of all the main parties after allegations of aggressive tax avoidance by the rich and powerful. They revealed:
Boris Johnson made twice as much money as the Prime Minister, totalling £2 million over four years, and paid tax totalling nearly £1 million. Last year he was paid £143,911 as Mayor, but also earned £266,667 for a weekly newspaper column, £224,617 in book royalties, and £694 in bank interest. He paid £276,000 tax on a £612,000 income.
The Chancellor received a £44,647 dividend from his family’s wallpaper manufacturing firm, Osborne & Little, which had not paid taxes for seven ye a r s d u e t o p re v i o u s l o s s e s . Mr Osborne also earned £33,562 from renting out his Notting Hill home and £120,526 as an MP and minister, taking his total income for 2014/15 to £198,738. He paid £72,210 in tax.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was fined £100 for submitting his tax return after the deadline. He declared £1,850 in earnings for speeches on top of his £70,795 salary as an MP, paying tax of £18,912.
The EU was also unveiling a crackdown on multinationals such as Google that are suspected of shifting earnings to countries with lower tax rates.
Lord Hague warned against making other ministers and MPs list their earnings, saying “normal” people with simple tax affairs often did not make the best leaders. “Those personal circumstances are not necessarily a good guide to how good they will be as a prime minister, a chancellor or anything else,” he said.
Churchill’s tax return would have been “more difficult to defend in public” yet he became the greatest wartime leader. Pit t the Younger had “chaotic” personal finances.