When are the Tories going to deal with the Ashcroft question?

By Mike Ion / @MikeIon

Sooner or later, the Tories are going to have to deal with the “Ashcroft question”. As it stands, the main issues appear to be:

1. There is still no clarity with regards to the the status of Lord Ashcroft as a UK tax-paying resident fully domiciled.

2. Ashcroft’s entry into the Lords was made at the request of William Hague when he was Leader of the Conservative Party. The then Chairman of the Honours Committee, Lord Thomson, asked the then Prime Minister (Tony Blair) to clarify the then Mr Ashcroft’s residence and tax status. When he was made a peer, Downing Street (not Lord Ashcroft) issued a statement stating that “Michael Ashcroft has given a clear and unequivocal assurance that he will take up permanent residence in the UK before the end of the calendar year”. Nine years later and we still do not know if he is domiciled in the UK in the full tax-paying sense.

3. In 2000, one of Lord Ashcroft’s predecessors as Tory Party treasurer, Lord McAlpine of West Green, said that it would be “outrageous and wrong” for him to receive a peerage.

4. In 2005 apparently Ashcroft used his own private money (supported by fellow businessmen Lord Leonard Steinberg and Bob Edmiston) to support Tory candidates in key seats.

There have been all kinds of stories and allegations against Ashcroft over the years. It would put all our minds, and the constant speculation, to rest if David Cameron could get us an answer.

408 people today signed the petition calling for Lord Ashcroft’s tax status to be revealed, after the Facebook group “Transparency now” was set up last week.