Cameron's father 'used tax havens to build family fortune'

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Independent

Cameron's father 'used tax havens to build family fortune'
Andrew Grice
Saturday 21 April 2012

David Cameron's late father ran a network of offshore investment funds to help build up the family's fortune, it was claimed last night. Ian Cameron, a stockbroker, set up funds in tax havens such as Panama City and Geneva, and boasted of their ability to remain outside UK tax jurisdiction. There is no suggestion he acted illegally.

When he died in 2010 aged 77, Ian Cameron left £2.74m in his will; the Prime Minister received £300,000. The methods used by Ian Cameron from 1979, when controls on taking capital out of Britain were scrapped, are now common among hedge funds. UK residents have to pay tax on profits they repatriate, and there is nothing to suggest the Cameron family did not. But the timing of the revelation by The Guardian newspaper may embarrass the Prime Minister. Labour claims that last month's Budget, which cut the top rate of tax from 50 to 45 per cent, showed the Tories are the "party of the rich" whose leaders are "out of touch".

Downing Street said it did not want to comment a private family matter. A spokesman added: "The Government's tax reforms are about making sure that some of the richest people in the country pay a decent share of income tax."


Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/camerons-father-used-tax-havens-to-build-family-fortune-7666067.html

[2Design]

1. sounds like politicians

[Judi Lynn]

2. David Cameron's family fortune: the Jersey, Panama and Geneva connection

David Cameron's family fortune: the Jersey, Panama and Geneva connection
Offshore venture in tax haven – named after family home in Aberdeenshire – valued at £25m
Ed Howker and Shiv Malik
guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 April 2012 17.00 EDT

At the heart of a stunning 50-acre estate by the banks of the river Deveron in Aberdeenshire sits the granite-clad Victorian mansion Blairmore House, home to four generations of the prime minister's family.

Built in the 1880s by Alex Geddes, a Scotsman who became known as the Chicago grain king, the estate holds decades of David Cameron's family history. The union of the Geddes and Cameron families was celebrated in the grounds in 1905, and the nearby chapel remembers forebears killed in the first world war. David's father, Ian Donald Cameron, was born in 1932 at Blairmore House. But soon after that, the old place was sold.

So it was perhaps for sentimental reasons that the offshore fund Ian Cameron helped to establish in the tax haven of Panama shares the name. Blairmore Holdings Inc, just like Blairmore House, is a monument to wealth obtained overseas.

Valued today at £25m, the Panamanian fund was established in 1982 while David was still at Eton, the school that his father attended. At the time, Ian Cameron still worked at Panmure Gordon, the City broking firm at which three generations of the family were senior partners.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/apr/20/david-cameron-jersey-panama-geneva

[Drunken Irishman]

3. Aww, Britain has their own Mitt Romney. How cute.

[freshwest]

4. Oh, yes, how precious and quaint. Wonder if there are any bodies in the cellar.

[saras]

5. Well, duh. Is there any OTHER kind of fortune?

Have you ever heard of anyone getting to be a multimillionaire by saving their wages?