Apart from booting octogenarians out of the Lords, Starmer’s manifesto promises “to introduce legislation to remove the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote“. That drags a few descendants of Labour giants down with the rest…
- Stephen Benn, 3rd Viscount Stansgate (son of Tony).
- John Attlee, 3rd Earl Attlee (grandson of Clement).
As a bonus, also up for the chop are Raymond Asquith (great-grandson of Herbert) and Rupert Carington (son of Peter). Some devoted history fans might view the remaining Lords as a bit of a rump…
Labour MPs are not pulling punches on the tax affairs of David Cameron’s father, calling him “absolutely disgusting” despite there still being some dispute over the extent of any tax avoidance that actually took place. What do they have to say about another prominent politician’s father and his tax affairs?
When Tony Benn’s wife died, he took steps to immediately pass his assets onto his children to reduce their eventual inheritance tax burden. The kids reportedly took part ownership of the family home in Holland Park, which was then quickly sold for £4.1 million. He also placed Stansgate House and its estate in trust, another nifty inheritance tax avoidance measure. Hilary Benn and his siblings directed benefited from his father’s careful tax planning. No wonder the Shadow Foreign Secretary has yet to comment on Dave’s predicament…
Good to see Alex Salmond has handled Hilary Benn’s speech with his usual good grace and sensitivity. He told LBC:
“His father, whose speech I heard in the Iraq debate all these years ago, would be birling in his grave hearing a speech in favour of a Tory prime minister wanting to take the country to war and that’s just a reality.”
I voted differently to Hillary Benn. Using his father's death to make a political point – "spinning in his grave" – is repulsive.
— Stewart McDonald MP (@StewartMcDonald) December 3, 2015
Even his own SNP MPs think it’s a bit much…
