Lord Fink accuses Ed Miliband of climbdown over tax claims
Ed Miliband accuses Fink of U-turn in tax avoidance row
(35 minutes later)
Tory donor Lord Fink has accused Ed Miliband of a "major climbdown" in a row over alleged tax avoidance.
Ed Miliband has accused Lord Fink of an "extraordinary U-turn" after the Tory donor appeared to drop his threat of legal action over tax avoidance claims.
Mr Miliband accused the peer of using an HSBC Swiss bank account to avoid tax and said David Cameron was surrounded by "dodgy donors".
Lord Fink had accused the Labour leader of making defamatory comments in the Commons about his tax affairs.
The peer called on the Labour leader to withdraw the "defamatory" comments.
But the peer told the Evening Standard he did not want to sue Mr Miliband and the definition of tax avoidance was so broad that "everyone does it".
Mr Miliband said he had not been calling Lord Fink "dodgy" - but stood by his claim that the peer had engaged in tax avoidance.
Mr Miliband challenged David Cameron to say whether he agreed with that view.
In a statement, Lord Fink said: "Yesterday I challenged Ed Miliband to repeat the accusations he made in the Commons - that I used an HSBC bank account to avoid tax and that I was a 'dodgy donor'. He did not.
"This is a major climbdown by a man who is willing to smear without getting his facts straight."
Mr Miliband said: "I used a general comment about dodgy donors in the Conservative Party and I totally stand by that comment.
"I'm not saying it about Lord Fink. There are several questionable donors to the Tory party."
He went on to quote an interview Lord Fink gave to the Evening Standard, in which the former Conservative Party treasurer says the definition of avoiding tax is so broad that "everyone does it".
Mr Miliband said: "I think this is a defining moment in David Cameron's leadership of the Conservative Party, because it's now revealed that he appointed a treasurer... who says 'everyone engages in tax avoidance'.
