Pressure on Osborne to publish tax return

Downing Street is understood to have leant on the Treasury this morning to make sure the information relating to the Chancellor is published as soon as possible.

The Prime Minister’s spokeswoman said ‘it is right to show transparency’.

David Cameron divulged four days ago that he previously held shares in an offshore firm belonging to his late father and there has been growing pressure on other senior cabinet members to be more open about their finances.

While the Prime Minister does not believe every MP needs to publish their tax affairs, he thinks it is right for those in charge of the nation’s finances to do so. Technically the Prime Minister is First Lord of the Treasury, and Mr Osborne is Second Lord of the Treasury.

The spokeswoman said: “When it comes to publishing tax returns the Prime Minister has made clear that he was willing to be transparent and that it is right for potential Prime Ministers to also do so.

“I think with regards to who is in charge of the nation’s finances, the Prime Minister takes that the view the Chancellors and Shadow Chancellors should show transparency too, but he is not recommending that it should be the same thing for everyone else involved in politics.”

There is no suggestion the Chancellor holds any offshore shares, and he was not mentioned in the Panama Papers data leak.

With a Conservative leadership battle expected at the end of the Parliament between senior cabinet figures, the mention from Downing Street that ‘potential Prime Ministers’ should publish their tax information may also involve further scrutiny on current London mayor Boris Johnson.

While the Prime Minister’s spokesperson said “it is right to show transparency in this regard”, this morning Mr Johnson told reporters that people should not be bullied into releasing their personal information.

Pressure is likely to mount on the Treasury to publish the information before Mr Osborne leaves for a G20 summit in Washington on Wednesday, April 13.

Later today the Prime Minister is to go before the House of Commons to give a statement on UK plans to introduce a criminal offence for corporations who fail to stop their staff facilitating tax evasion.

He is also expected to address personal questions from MPs on the £30,000 worth of shares he held in his father’s firm Blairmore Holdings which he sold in 2010 before he became Prime Minister.

A data leak from Panama based offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca showed that Mr Cameron senior had been one of their clients, which led to a week of scrutiny on the Prime Minister over whether he had avoided paying UK tax personally.

He announced four days after questions from the media that he and his wife had previously held shares, which was an entirely legal financial arrangement and they had paid all UK tax due.

Mr Cameron’s spokeswoman said: “Clearly over the last week there have been issues that the release of those Panama papers have raised which he has already responded to, taking an unprecedented action in terms of the amount of tax information a British Prime Minister has now put in the public domain.”