Pressure on Hague over Ashcroft assurances

The shadow foreign secretary faced jibes from Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman over assurances he had given 10 years ago, as the then Conservative leader, that Lord – then Mr – Ashcroft was prepared to pay "tens of millions" more in tax.

Lord Ashcroft, the Conservative Party's deputy chairman, revealed this week that he had in fact been non-domiciled for tax purposes for the past decade.

But letters have emerged between Mr Hague and Tony Blair from 1999 and 2000 in which the MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire acknowledged that Mr Ashcroft was "non-resident for tax purposes" but was committed to becoming resident which would have cost him millions in taxes.

Ms Harman said either Lord Ashcroft or Mr Hague "must go", but the MP accused Labour of being in a "desperate panic".

Labour candidates in the region have seized on the row and written to Tory rivals questioning calling for money donated to marginal constituencies to be repaid.

Wakefield MP Mary Creagh said last night: "Instead of paying fair

taxes, like everyone else has to in Wakefield, Horbury and Ossett he has been channelling millions into the Conservative Party to help them buy this election."