Tom Richmond: Beginning of the end for PM as Cameron reaches point of no return

His holier-than-thou sanctimony simply no longer washes in large parts of a disillusioned country which has become weary of a leader who continues to over-promise and under-deliver and angry at his botched attempt to fix the European Union referendum with the mass distribution of a £9m Downing Street-inspired propaganda leaflet.

Like his political father figure Tony Blair, Mr Cameron’s “do as I say not as I do” hypocrisy – which has earned the “Dodgy Dave” and “Shameron” sobriquets – is now proving counter-productive to good governance.

All that will happen with the publication of MPs’ tax returns is that the wealthy and able will be less inclined to serve in Parliament and Britain will be left at the mercy of even more career politicians who don’t know how to generate prosperity.

Far from yesterday’s return of Parliament representing the end of the beginning, as Mr Cameron promised hastily cobbled together new laws to make employees of accountants criminally liable if it is proven that they encouraged tax evasion, it represents the beginning of the end for the Tory leader – the only question is now is the timing of his departure after the June 23 vote on Britain’s EU membership.

If the country defies Mr Cameron’s recommendation to stay in the EU, an organisation that should have been compelled to provide audited accounts as a prerequisite of the PM’s half-hearted re-negotiation, the Tories will turn on him straight away.

If the Remain campaign does prevail, it will be in spite of Mr Cameron and attention will turn to the Conservative succession after the PM indicated before the 2015 election he would not seek a third term. He only has himself to blame.

If Mr Cameron had been candid with the British people after it emerged that he was a beneficiary of his late father Ian’s investment fund in the tax haven of Panama, rather than being economical with the truth for five torrid days, he might not be facing this torrent of opprobrium.

Yet, after trying to fob the electorate off with semantics and the defence that this was “a private matter”, it culminated with the Conservative leader in full retreat and having to hastily honour a previously unfulfilled promise to disclose details of his tax returns which included two payments of his £100,000 from his mother Mary as part of Cameron senior’s legacy.

Some context. At no time do the Camerons appear to have broken any law. Far from it. Like all families, they have looked to take advantage of the tax breaks available to them. Who wouldn’t?

The problem is that it is the cack-handed cover-up, rather than Mr Cameron’s tax liabilities, which is proving far more corrosive because it stinks of hypocrisy and appears to be at odds with the spirit of the law. A contradiction of the Tory “we are all in this together” mantra, it also makes a mockery of the Prime Minister’s protestations in 2012 that offshore tax avoidance schemes were “morally wrong” before naming and shaming the comedian Jimmy Carr.

“People work hard, they pay their taxes, they save up to go to one of his shows. They buy the tickets. He is taking the money from those tickets and he, as far as I can see, is putting all of that into some very dodgy tax avoiding schemes,” he said. “That is wrong. There is nothing wrong with people planning their tax affairs to invest in their pension and plan for their retirement – that sort of tax management is fine. But some of these schemes we have seen are quite frankly morally wrong.”

Mr Cameron can’t have it both ways, especially at a time when his own mother has been protesting against the Government’s austerity cuts.

Even though this Government has done more than its Labour predecessors to tackle the issue of tax avoidance – even internet giant Google has reached a deal of sorts with HMRC – this is not resonating because people are becoming weary of Mr Cameron’s superficiality.

Despite Labour being economically and politically bankrupt under Jeremy Corbyn, the Tories are paying a heavy price for their own complacency – whether it be on flooding, the steel industry or welfare cuts in the Budget.

With the Government in disarray over a referendum which, for many, will be a vote on Mr Cameron’s trustworthiness, the Prime Minister will struggle now to regain the initiative.

All Prime Ministers reach a tipping point where they lose control of the agenda. For Margaret Thatcher, it was the autumn of 1989 when Sir Anthony Meyer stood for the Tory leadership as a stalking horse. For John Major, it was Black Wednesday (when Mr Cameron was a key Treasury advisor) and Britain’s exit from the ERM. For Tony Blair, it was April 2006 when his Government became bedevilled by scandal. For Gordon Brown, it was the banking crisis and MPs’ expenses scandal. For Mr Cameron, it was the indignity of having to go on national television, after five days of dodging questions, to admit that he had not been fully truthful over his tax arrangements.

I, for one, would struggle to vote for David Cameron if he was up for election again. The problem is that I wouldn’t know who to trust in his place.

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