David Cameron admits he DID hold shares in offshore tax haven

Mark Chandler8 April 2016

David Cameron insisted he has “nothing to hide” about his financial affairs today after revealing he and his wife sold shares worth more than £30,000 in an offshore tax haven fund set up by his late father.

The Prime Minister has faced pressure to revealed his interests since the Panama Papers leaks included details of his father's Blairmore fund.

In an interview with ITV News, he insisted that it was a "fundamental misconception" that it was set up to avoid tax, saying his father was being "unfairly written about".

And he said that while his and wife Samantha's profit from the scheme was "subject to all the UK taxes in the normal ways", it came to just below the threshold where capital gains tax would have applied.

Mr Cameron also repeated his willingness to publish his own tax returns.

He told ITV: "I paid income tax on the dividends, but there was a profit on it but it was less than the capital gains tax allowance, so I didn't pay capital gains tax, but it was subject to all the UK taxes in all the normal ways.

"So I want to be as clear as I can about the past, about the present, about the future, because frankly, I don't have anything to hide.

"I'm proud of my dad and what he did and the business he established and all the rest of it.

David Cameron insisted he has “nothing to hide” about his financial affairs 
Kacper Pempel/Reuters

"I can't bear to see his name being dragged through the mud, as you can see, and for my own, I chose to take a different path from my father, grandfather and great-grandfather, who were all stockbrokers, and I've got nothing to hide in my arrangements and I'm very happy to answer questions about it."

Number 10 said Mr and Mrs Cameron bought their holding in April 1997 for £12,497 and sold it in January 2010 for £31,500.

The annual personal allowance for an individual in 2009-10 was £10,100, meaning the joint profit was just outside the threshold.

Downing Street had initiallysaid it was a private matter before first clarifying that the PM had no offshore funds and trusts and then making clear the family would not benefit in future either.

Additional reporting by the Press Association.

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