Hague was in dark for decade over Ashcroft tax

As Tory party leader at the time, Mr Hague gave assurances that Michael Ashcroft would pay “tens of millions” more in tax as a condition of being granted a peerage in 2000.

But Lord Ashcroft, now the party’s deputy chairman, revealed earlier this week that he in fact enjoyed “non-dom” status and so did not pay tax on extensive overseas earnings.

Mr Hague, now Shadow Foreign Secretary, dodged angry demands from Ministers yesterday to explain the apparent discrepancy.

But in an interview with the BBC he said he had not been privy to the final agreement struck by the billionaire donor - who had twice previously been denied a peerage as a tax “exile”.

“I knew the Cabinet Office would set that out and agree it with Michael Ashcroft but I would not, of course, know the details of that,” he told BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight.

Mr Hague, MP for Richmond, said he had only found out about Lord Ashcroft’s tax status in recent months.

Lord Ashcroft’s millions have helped to bankroll the Tories.

Earlier in the day, Mr Hague faced a barrage of questions from Labour’s deputy leader Harriet Harman over the extent of his knowledge when he deputised for Mr Cameron at question time in the Commons.

And last night Cabinet Minister Douglas Alexander said: “Lord Ashcroft’s position is now completely untenable.”