Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
News
Original poster

David Cameron has to resign.

547 replies

PirateSmile · 05/04/2016 07:53

If there is any evidence he has had even one penny of benefit from his father's dodgy tax arrangement, surely Cameron has to go?
He's saying 'it's a private matter' whilst presumably working on his notes for next month's conference on cracking down on such tax scams. You really couldn't make it up. He will no doubt plead ignorance but that's no defence. He is the PM. He should know he's benefiting from is essentially large scale fraud.
Are we really going to let him get away with this?

OP posts:
ThroughThickAndThin01 · 05/04/2016 08:41

Ah thanks Soup. That's totally different then. You are sounding a bit desperate OP. Don't worry though DC will either be gone anyway in June (Brexit) or 2020. (Stepping down).

Shutthatdoor · 05/04/2016 08:42

Pirate and 90% of the Icelandic population haven't.

I am no Cameron fan, but I bet 10% of the UK population would sign a petition too. Not because he has or hasn't done anything wrong, but because he is who he is.

Inkanta · 05/04/2016 08:48

'You are missing the whole point about tax evasion and tax avoidance, and the difference.'

Don't want to discuss the technical terms at all. I want to know if Cameron has benefited from his dad's affairs and is he aware that he has??

Costacoffeeplease · 05/04/2016 08:49

Don't want to discuss the technical terms at all

Grin

So you're not interested in what's legal or illegal? Grin

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 05/04/2016 08:51

Don't want to discuss the technical terms at all Confused

Very blinkered.

Shutthatdoor · 05/04/2016 08:52

Don't want to discuss the technical terms at all

What an absolutely ridiculous statement.

No point in discussing it with people then is there?

Not taking your 'criminal' comment back either I see.

Inkanta · 05/04/2016 08:54

Er answer the question, did Cameron benefit from his dad's affairs and did he know?

Shutthatdoor · 05/04/2016 08:56

Er answer the question, did Cameron benefit from his dad's affairs and did he know?

Errrrr ask him.

Maybe find out the 'technicalities' first though eh.

SoupDragon · 05/04/2016 08:56

Do you think that poster is Shiny Dave? Because that is the only way they can answer the question as to whether he befitted or knew.

SoupDragon · 05/04/2016 08:56

What was clear from the Panorama programme is that Shiny Dave closed the legal loophole.

TempusEedjit · 05/04/2016 08:57

Grin at legal and illegal being "technical terms".

homebythesea · 05/04/2016 08:59

For all we know Cameron Sr left it all to the cats home

But of course that is entirely irrelevant since what he did was not illegal

Inkanta · 05/04/2016 09:03

Here's another technical term - 'tax dodging'.

Shock
JanTheJam · 05/04/2016 09:06

So when my father passes I have a moral obligation to check that all the money is properly aquired and the maximum tax possible has been paid?

Hmm

You're having a laugh.

I fully expect my parents to be as tax efficient as possible - as I am. No I'm not a higher rate tax payer.

I'm far more het up over Phillip Greens tax affairs, Amazon, Starbucks, etc than what DCs dead father legally got up to 6 years ago.

Original poster
PirateSmile · 05/04/2016 09:08

I am in no way desperate. I didn't see the Panorama programme but I'll watch it on iplayer.
There are so many questions this scenario raises and I think it's so much more nuanced than 'he isn't responsible for his father's actions.' I agree that he isn't, but if you are the person who is crusading against these tax schemes, legal or otherwise, and you have personally benefitted from this (which we don't know yet because Cameron's saying it's a personal matter) there is a huge conflict of interest.

OP posts:
Original poster
PirateSmile · 05/04/2016 09:09

Benefited.

OP posts:
suzannecaravaggio · 05/04/2016 09:11

No it isn't illegal but surely the wider point is that these are the people who make the laws and it is clear that they are made to protect the interests of the rich and powerfull

These people don't earn money completely independently, wealth is created collectively, they leverage their ability to make money flow in their direction and then squirrel it away, out of the reach of the masses

ClashCityRocker · 05/04/2016 09:13

and......?

Many many wealthy families arrange their affairs in order to pay less tax.

I would be more surprised if DC's dad had not engaged in aggressive avoidance.

Tbf to DC, he's trying to change things. If we start getting rid of everyone in government who has benefitted from tax avoidance we wouldn't have anybody left.

suzannecaravaggio · 05/04/2016 09:16

We all act in out own interests but wealth and power mean that the results of self interested behaviour are greatly amplified

Those at the top are effectively able to predate and cream off the value created by the bulk of society who are at the bottom of the food chain

homebythesea · 05/04/2016 09:17

pirate it would only be a conflict of interest if DC was NOT campaigning against aggressive tax avoidance. The fact that he MAY have benefitted from his father's arrangements (maybe enabled his parents to pay the school fees for example) and is now campaigning against similar arrangements surely illustrates a principled stand?

homebythesea · 05/04/2016 09:18

No it isn't illegal but surely the wider point is that these are the people who make the laws and it is clear that they are made to protect the interests of the rich and powerful

So said Marx, but the reality is most societies don't want to operate in a way that limits or abolishes class and wealth differential

Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies · 05/04/2016 09:21

The Miliband brothers' deed of variance on their inheritance undoubtedly benefited them (even if their defence was, 'mummy made me do it'). Did you raise the same issue about them, OP?

I don't like tax avoidance (I don't actually see a moral distinction between this and tax evaxion). But I think unless David Cameron is actually seen to be personally culpable, this is a situation of guilt by association.

prh47bridge · 05/04/2016 09:22

He should know he's benefiting from is essentially large scale fraud

No he isn't, nor did his father. His father used some legal tax avoidance vehicles before Cameron was born. That is not a big deal.

No-one is required to arrange their affairs in order to pay the maximum possible amount of tax.

If governments are stupid enough to make their tax laws so complex that smart lawyers can find loopholes they cannot then blame the people who take advantage of those loopholes. The sensible thing would be to simplify the tax system so that the loopholes were eliminated.

Of course, where there has been illegal activity that is another matter. That should indeed be dealt with appropriately. But I agree with others that, even if there was illegal activity (and none has been alleged with respect to his father) he is not responsible for his father's actions.

if you are the person who is crusading against these tax schemes, legal or otherwise, and you have personally benefitted from this (which we don't know yet because Cameron's saying it's a personal matter) there is a huge conflict of interest

If you are crusading against tax schemes that you may have benefitted from indirectly that is not in any way a conflict of interest.

If you are policing tax schemes from which you directly benefit that is a conflict of interest but there is no suggestion that is the case here.

slicedfinger · 05/04/2016 09:23

I loath DC, and everything he stands for. I am a member of the Labour Party.

You really cannot compare the Icelandic PM with DC on this matter. The two situations are (from what we have learned so far) completely different.

If he is in any way continuing to operate anything through any of the offshore accounts, he obviously needs to fess up, and resign. However, there is no way on earth he should be held responsible for the apparently legal, though morally reprehensible activities of his late father.

He totally needs to STFU about his success and financial security being about hard work though. Arse.

OttiliaVonBCup · 05/04/2016 09:25

Do we all know everything about our parents?

Those who say he should resign over something his father did, can you be sure there are no skeletons anywhere?

I don't like DC, but this wasn't him doing it.