James Cleverly says ministers’ tax affairs should remain ‘private’

James Cleverly has said it is “right and proper” that tax matters should be kept out of the public eye by politicians.

The Foreign Secretary said if people want politicians to be “more like the rest of us”, the same should apply to keeping their finances private.

He spoke to Laura Kuenssberg after Conservative Party leader Nadhim Zahawi released a statement yesterday raising questions about his taxes.

It has been claimed Mr Zahawi, who was Chancellor for two months last year, has been fined an estimated £1.1million and £3.7million due to a “mistake” involving shares in YouGov, the voting company he co-founded pay back taxes.

Mr Cleverly told the BBC: “Well, I think it’s right and proper that people’s tax affairs are personal and private.”

He added: “We keep hearing that we want politicians to be more like the rest of us and less some kind of weird and unique beast.

“Well, I think the rules that we apply to others also apply to politicians.

“That’s why, as I said, we don’t demand it from others, and when politicians decide to do it, that’s great.

“But I think having a unique requirement that’s different from the rest of society, I don’t think that’s necessarily the best way forward.”

In a previous interview with Sky’s Sophy Ridge, Mr Cleverly dodged questions about whether Mr Zahawi had negotiated the tax arrangement with HMRC when he was Chancellor.

He said: “I don’t know any more details than in his public statement.”

Mr Cleverly was also asked about reports that Tory donor Richard Sharp helped Boris Johnson arrange a guarantee for a loan of up to £800,000 weeks before the then Prime Minister recommended him for the role of BBC leader.

He said: “Well, I have not spoken to any of those parties about this situation.

“I met Richard, we spoke about the (BBC) World Service, he struck me as an incredibly competent, experienced, thoughtful person.

“I can see exactly why he has the qualities, both personally and professionally, to be chairman of the BBC.

“As far as I can see, his appointment was made on those merits.”

He added: “We’ve had senior people in the BBC who have political connections, most people have political connections, some of them are active, so it’s not at all unusual to have people in the higher echelons of the BBC.”

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