Prime Minister David Cameron admits he mishandled the 'Panama Papers' tax scrutiny

Advertisement

David Cameron

REUTERS/Russell Cheyne

Prime Minister David Cameron.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Saturday he should have handled scrutiny of his family's tax arrangements better and promised to learn the lessons after days of negative media coverage and calls for his resignation.

Advertisement

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.

"Well, it's not been a great week," Cameron said on Saturday, speaking in London at a meeting of members of his Conservative Party. "I know that I should have handled this better, I could have handled this better. I know there are lessons to learn and I will learn them."

Cameron added: "Don't blame No. 10 Downing Street or nameless advisors, blame me, and I will learn the lessons.

"I was obviously very angry about what people were saying about my dad. I loved my dad, I miss him every day.

Advertisement

"He was a wonderful father and I'm very proud of everything he did. But I mustn't let that cloud the picture. The facts are these: I bought shares in a unit trust, shares that are like any other sorts of shares and I paid taxes on them in exactly the same way.

"I sold those shares. In fact, I sold all the shares that I owned, on becoming prime minister."

Activists held a demonstration in Central London on Saturday in protest against the Prime Minister's tax arrangements.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has accused Cameron of "misleading the public" and believes he has "lost the trust of the British people".

Cameron has promised to be more transparent in future, saying that he will be sharing his tax returns going forward.

Advertisement

"And later on I will be publishing the information that goes into my tax return, not just for this year but the years gone past because I want to be completely open and transparent about these things," said Cameron.

"I will be the first prime minister, the first leader of a major political party, to do that and I think it is the right thing to do."