Saturday, 6 March 2010

We corner Mandelson


http://blog.itv.com/news/tombradby/?p=56


04 Mar, 2010

Speaking of asking Labour some difficult questions, we just put Lord Mandelson on the spot. Here’s the transcript:

TB; ‘You talk about transparency, well we have been asking the Labour Party for some days whether your donors, like Ronnie Cohen, are non-doms or not. We haven’t got an answer, so perhaps you’d like to give us one sitting here.’

Lord M; ‘The Labour Party should give the information about its donors in the way that–’

TB; ‘It hasn’t.’

Lord M; ‘In the way that it is required to do and in response to legitimate questions.’

TB; ‘Let me ask you; is that a legitimate question? Be fair. Is it legitimate for us, given all this, to ask whether your donors are paying full tax on their worldwide income?’

Lord M; ‘I think it is perfectly legitimate.’

TB; ‘What’s the answer?’

Lord M; ‘How do I know what the answer is?’

And later:

TB; ‘Are you saying that all labour party donors should be full tax payers; ie, paying tax on their worldwide income in this country? And if they aren’t, should the Labour Party pay the money back?’

Lord M; ‘What I’m saying is that Labour Party donors should be clear and upfront about what they are donating, what their domicile or tax status is, or whatever, just as donors who give money to the Conservative Party should be.’

We have since asked the Labour Party to confirm which of their donors are non-doms and have, once again, received no answer…

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