David Cameron insists he has ‘nothing to hide’

British prime minister David Cameron said he did not have “anything to hide” about his financial affairs as he revealed that he and his wife sold shares worth more than £30,000 in an offshore tax haven fund set up by his late father. 

Mr Cameron has faced intense pressure to detail his interests since the Panama Papers leaks, including details of Blairmore Holdings — which used ‘beare r shares’ to protect investors’ privacy.

He told ITV News it was a “fundamental misconception” that Blairemore was set up to avoid tax, saying his father was being “unfairly written about”.

He added that his profit from the scheme was “subject to all the UK taxes in the normal ways” — it came to just below the level at which capital gains tax apply.

Mr Cameron, who has claimed to be a prominent campaigner for increased tax transparency, also repeated his willingness to publish his own tax returns.

“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,” Mr Cameron told ITV.

“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.”

Mr Cameron said it had been “a difficult few days” since the mass leak of records from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonsec.

He said he was not able to “point to every source of every bit of the money” his father left him when he died — which he said was around £300,000 — just below the threshold for inheritance tax.

Pressed on whether he benefited from any part of the estate that was based in Jersey, Cameron said: “Dad’s not around for me to ask the questions now. But he was a very hardworking man. He built up a business.

"He left his house to my brother. He left me some money, and left things to my brothers and sisters, too."

Mr Cameron’s father Ian, who died in 2010, was a director of Blairmore Holdings Inc, which, until 2006, used unregistered ‘bearer shares’ to protect its clients’ privacy.

His use of the firm to help shield investments from tax helped build up a significant legacy, part of which was inherited by Mr Cameron.

There is no suggestion that this avoidance arrangement or others exposed by the leak were anything but legal. Last night, Labour’s John Mann insisted Mr Cameron should resign.

He wrote on Twitter: “Cameron has had six years to be honest with Parliament and the people. He failed to do so. Get out now hypocrite.

“Cameron issue is simple. He covered-up and misled. How he got his shares is irrelevant. He has no choice but to resign.”