Ed Miliband has now repeated what he said about Lord Fink in the Commons. At the end of his speech, he said:
‘Yesterday Conservative donor Lord Fink challenged me to stand by what I said in the House of Commons, that he was engaged in tax avoidance activities. I do. And believe it or not, now today he confirms it as well as he has just said, and I quote, I didn’t object to his use of the word tax avoidance, because you’re right, tax avoidance, everyone does it.
‘Now David Cameron must explain why he appointed a treasurer of the Conservative party who boasts about engaging in tax avoidance and thinks that it’s something everyone does. Friends, this is the big choice facing our country.’
The Tories are now saying that not using the word ‘dodgy’ is a ‘massive climbdown’ for the Labour leader. They’ve even wheeled out Lord Fink to say this:
‘Yesterday I challenged Ed Miliband to repeat the accusations he made in the Commons – that I used an HSBC bank account to avoid tax and that I was a “dodgy donor.”He
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