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Ed Miliband accuses Fink of U-turn in tax avoidance row | Ed Miliband accuses Fink of U-turn in tax avoidance row |
(35 minutes later) | |
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. | 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. |
Lord Fink had accused the Labour leader of making defamatory comments in the Commons about his tax affairs. | Lord Fink had accused the Labour leader of making defamatory comments in the Commons about his tax affairs. |
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". | 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 challenged David Cameron to say whether he agreed with that view. | Mr Miliband challenged David Cameron to say whether he agreed with that view. |
The row erupted when a list of political donors who had bank accounts with HSBC's private Swiss banking arm was published by The Guardian and the BBC's Panorama. | |
The bank faces allegations it may have helped wealthy clients avoid or evade tax. | |
'Vanilla' | |
Mr Miliband used the protection of Parliamentary privilege to name Lord Fink, a philanthropist and former hedge fund boss who has donated £3m to the Conservative Party, as one of the UK citizens listed as having an account at the bank's Geneva branch. | |
He then accused David Cameron of being a "dodgy prime minister surrounded by dodgy donors". | |
A furious Lord Fink made a statement on the steps of Conservative HQ challenging the Labour leader to repeat the allegation outside Parliament and threatened legal action if he did so. | |
Labour sources indicated Mr Miliband would be standing by his words. | |
On Monday morning, Lord Fink appeared to climb down, telling The Evening Standard: "I don't even want to sue Ed Miliband ... If he simply uses the words 'Lord Fink did ordinary tax avoidance' then, no, I couldn't sue him. But if he made the statement 'dodgy' about my bank account, that was potentially libellous. That was the issue I took exception to." | |
He admitted taking tax avoidance measures "at the vanilla, bland, end of the spectrum", adding: "The expression tax avoidance is so wide that everyone does tax avoidance at some level." | |
Mr Miliband denied using the word "dodgy" in relation to Lord Fink, saying: "I was very clear about what I said about Lord Fink. Until his extraordinary U-turn 24 hours later, the thing he objected to was me saying he was engaging in tax-avoiding activities. | |
"I used a general comment about dodgy donors in the Conservative Party and I totally stand by that. I am not saying it about Lord Fink." | |
He said there were "several questionable donors to the Tory Party". | |
'Major climbdown' | |
But he added: "I think this is a defining moment in David Cameron's leadership of the Conservative Party because it is now revealed that he appointed a treasurer of the Conservative Party who says everyone engages in tax avoidance. I don't think that is the view of most people, I don't think it's the view of the country, and I think it does say something about the Conservative Party and where it has reached. | |
"The question today that David Cameron has to answer is does he agree with Lord Fink about this? Does he sanction his attitude or does he not?" | |
Responding to Mr Miliband's comments, Lord Fink said: 'Yesterday (Wednesday) 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." | |
In a letter to Mr Miliband yesterday, Lord Fink said that his claims about tax avoidance activities were "untrue and defamatory" but did not mention the "dodgy donor" comment. |