Offshore trust admission deepens British PM's problems

David Cameron had hoped to focus on campaigning to keep Britain in the EU before a referendum in June, but questions about his wealth, government spending and a steel crisis have blurred the prime minister's message. After four days and four different statements over his late father's inclusion in the "Panama Papers", Cameron said on Thursday he once had a stake in his father's offshore trust and had profited from it, spurring calls for the leader to resign.
It is unlikely Cameron will follow Iceland's prime minister and leave office over the documents, which show how the world's rich and powerful stash their wealth, but the blow to his image could hurt his campaign to persuade Britons to stay in the European Union.
On Thursday, Cameron used a television interview to admit he had a holding in his late father's Panamanian trust, Blairmore, but had sold it in 2010 before becoming prime minister.
"Of course I did own stocks and shares in the past - quite naturally because my father was a stockbroker. I sold them all in 2010, because if I was going to become prime minister I didn't want anyone to say you have other agendas, vested interests," he told ITV television. "We owned 5,000 units in Blairmore Investment Trust, which we sold in January 2010. That was worth something like 30,000 pounds." ($42,000).
He underlined that he had paid tax on the dividends and on the profits, and said his father had left him 300,000 pounds on his death. He also suggested he had not immediately detailed his affairs because he had struggled with the critical coverage of his father, "a man I love and admire and miss every day". Cameron said the unit trust was not set up to avoid tax but to invest in dollar-denominated shares and he also promised to publish his tax returns.
There is no indication that he or his father had done anything illegal, but by casting a spotlight on the Eton-educated Cameron's wealth, the admission has fuelled a public perception that his Conservative Party rules to protect the rich while punishing the poorest with its austerity push. Opposition politicians said his initial reluctance to describe his financial connections with his late father after the Panama Papers were leaked on Sunday begged more questions of the leader, who has championed policies to reduce tax avoidance.