Labour’s pursuit of Ashcroft could backfire

I wrote yesterday that Lord Ashcroft’s statement about his tax status should have drawn a “rather neat line under the issue”.  Sure, it’s hardly ideal that someone with such influence in our politics hasn’t been paying UK taxes on much of his wealth (something which could equally be said of Labour donors like Lord Paul and Lakshmi Mittal), and was keeping mysterious about it.  But at least, now, most of the uncertainty surrounding Ashcroft’s position has been removed.  And we have his indication that he will become a full UK taxpayer in due course.  

But I hadn’t counted on the tenacity of Labour, who are trying to spin this story as far as it will go.  They’ve had some of their biggest hitters doing the media rounds – including Jack Straw and Peter Mandelson, whose request for a watchdog investigation into Ashcroft has been turned down.  The Business Secretary has since come out snarling, saying