Miliband worded this answer about the Deed of Variation on his family home very carefully:

“This is something my mother did 20 years ago. That was a decision she made. Let me just say this: I’ve paid tax as a result of that transaction, I’ve avoided no tax in that.”

A Deed of Variation has the sole purpose of saving tax. That Ed paid capital gains tax is irrelevant – the Miliband family avoided paying in some part inheritance tax (how much is still unclear).

From the Sunday Times, 19 September 2004:

“DAVID MILIBAND, the schools minister, and his brother Ed, the chancellor’s economic adviser, are set to avoid paying thousands of pounds in tax through an Inland Revenue loophole which the Labour party pledged to close. 

The brothers, Labour’s rising stars, are poised to benefit after their family set up a scheme to share ownership of the family’s Pounds 1.3m townhouse in north London which was sold recently.

Accountants and the Inland Revenue say the scheme established by the Milibands is used to reduce inheritance tax.

The move is particularly controversial for Ed Miliband who is chairman of the council of economic advisers responsible for co-ordinating the Treasury’s long-term policy on behalf of Gordon Brown, the chancellor.”

…

The Sunday Times has learnt that after Ralph Miliband, the socialist father of David and Ed, died in 1994, he transferred almost all his assets, including homes in London and Oxfordshire, to his wife.

However, after taking professional advice, the family is understood to have posthumously rewritten his will to give 20% of the London home to both David and Ed.

David has declared a “20% share of family home in London” on the MPs’ register of interests since 2002.

This scheme is called a “deed of variation” and was highlighted by the chancellor in opposition as an unacceptable way in which the wealthy avoid paying death duties.

It allows people to inherit assets tax-free even if this goes against the wishes of the deceased. Had Ralph Miliband’s will not been altered, David and Ed would have inherited the house (or the money raised from its sale) when their mother Marion died and would have faced a tax bill equivalent to 40% of its value.

Instead they were able to cash in on their stakes when the family’s four bedroom townhouse in Primrose Hill, north London, was sold earlier in the summer.

For the record…

Ed Miliband just clearly said that he was not calling Lord Fink dodgy. The vanilla peer has responded:

“Yesterday I challenged Ed Miliband to repeat the accusations he made in the Commons – that I used an HSBC bank account to avoid tax and that I was a “dodgy donor.”He did not. This is a major climbdown by a man who is willing to smear without getting his facts straight.”

Fink/the Tories are now focussing on the word dodgy. Which was not mentioned in his letter yesterday….

Oh dear. EdM cannot even win on class war. #PMQs Ghastly, ghastly stuff on a serious subject.

— John Rentoul (@JohnRentoul) February 11, 2015

Ed Miliband had good ammo today but the HSBC issue isn't as clear cut as he'd like and PM counter attacked effectively.

— Carl Dinnen (@carldinnen) February 11, 2015

https://twitter.com/TomJHarper/status/565483586565189634

With all the vested power of a BBC/Guardian stitch up behind him, Ed Miliband still can't dribble the ball into an open goal. #PMQs

— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) February 11, 2015

This attack-dog stuff doesn't come naturally to Miliband. But then nothing does.

— Damian Thompson (@holysmoke) February 11, 2015

My snap PMQs verdict – http://t.co/YUf2C4FTPA – Miliband fails to get thru Cameron's defences – Not so much a loss as a missed opportunity

— AndrewSparrow (@AndrewSparrow) February 11, 2015

https://twitter.com/timsculthorpe/status/565483177419210752

Five more of these sessions to go…

David Axelrod is really earning his crust from Labour, telling a book-promoting interview that he’s retiring from campaigning: “I’m not going back on that circuit. It’s exhilarating, it’s addictive, but it’s not good for you. I’m done”. With his comments picked up by the Sun this morning, and sure to wind up already tetchy Labour MPs, Guido has crunched the numbers. Today it has been 90 days since Axelrod even bothered to mention his star British client on Twitter. He was reportedly in London for a brief visit in December, but is embarking on a book tour around the USA for the duration of the British election campaign. Worth every penny…

Labour claimed that Ed Miliband had a very important diary clash that stopped him speaking to all of his friends at the British Chamber of Commerce today:

.@BCCJohnL on Labour leader's absence from #BCCConf: 'It was disappointing. I think Ed Miliband had other diary commitments'

— James Chapman (@jameschappers) February 10, 2015

Though Ed Balls didn’t know what it was:

Ed Balls on nature of diary clash preventing Ed Miliband from attending BCC conference: "I've absolutely no idea". #wato

— PoliticsHome (@politicshome) February 10, 2015

It turns out he was hiding in his office:

Miliband has been in 'internal meetings' in Westminster today, a couple of hundred yards from BCC conference. Sources say no snub intended

— Jason Groves (@JasonGroves1) February 10, 2015

Gordon Brown levels of incompetence. It’s not as if Axelrod was even in town…

Remember when Ed claimed that “boasts from George Osborne” about the economy don’t reflect “the experience of everyday families” because his figures “ignore the growing number of self-employed” and the impact of “Victorian” flexible hours contracts on mothers?

A clampdown on zero-hours and self-employment will be a key part of Labour’s election message, but it seems Ed’s ‘secret weapon’ Mrs Miliband did not get the memo. Justine spoke out last week in favour of flexible work that is “fantastic for being family-friendly”:

“Because I’m self-employed. So that means if I want to see my kids in a school play, I don’t have to ask anyone, I carry on working in the evening.”

Violently off message…