Cameron’s four denials… and then the admission that plunged the Tories into a new crisis

David Cameron spent nearly a week avoiding questions over his family’s tax affairs until he was forced to admit he had benefited from the offshore trust set up by his late father.

He are his four denials – and the devastating admission that turned a controversy into a full-blown crisis.

Monday morning

“That is a private matter. I will focus on what the government is doing.”

– A No 10 spokesman when asked if the family still held cash in the offshore fund.

Tuesday afternoon

“In terms of my own financial affairs, I own no shares. I have a salary as prime minister and I have some savings, which I get some interest from and I have a house, which we used to live in, which we now let out while we are living in Downing Street and that’s all I have. I have no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds, nothing like that. And, so that, I think, is a very clear description”

– Cameron, after a speech on the EU in Birmingham.

Tuesday afternoon (again)

“To be clear, the prime minister, his wife and their children do not benefit from any offshore funds. The prime minister owns no shares. As has been previously reported, Mrs Cameron owns a small number of shares connected to her father’s land, which she declares on her tax return.”

– From a spokesperson for No 10 following complaints Cameron had not been clear about whether he benefited from any offshore funds and questions about whether the origin of the savings.

Wednesday morning

“There are no offshore funds/trusts which the prime minister, Mrs Cameron or their children will benefit from in future.”

– A spokesperson from No 10 after many pointed out that Cameron had not ruled out benefiting from the tax arrangements in the future.

Thursday evening

“We owned 5,000 units in Blairmore Investment Trust, which we sold in January 2010. That was worth something like £30,000. I paid income tax on the dividends. 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 way. 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.”

– Cameron in an interview with ITV’s political editor Robert Peston.