Martin Salter's Westminster Diary, December 3, 2009

Martin Salter MP • Published 4 Dec 2009 15:00 0 Comments

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I WAS amused at the contortions by David Cameron and his spin doctors to try and "de-posh" the Tory Party.

Apparently "Dave" has told candidates in Tory target seats to shorten double-barrelled or posh-sounding names to appear like ordinary folk. Simon Radford-Kirby (Brighton Kemptown) has dropped the Radford and Scott Seaman-Digby, the Tories' commercial director, is now Scott Digby in deference to his leader's wishes.

Best of all is the redoubtable candidate for Somerton and Frome, the amazingly named Annuziata Rees-Mogg, who politely declined Cameron's suggestion to become plain old Nancy Mogg.

With their inner circle dominated by old Etonians and plans to cut inheritance tax for Britain's 3,000 richest people forming the centrepiece of Tory tax strategy, I can see why they are worried about looking like a bunch of over-privileged toffs with no clue how the rest of us live.

No amount of spin, however, can hide the predicament of Cameron's multi-millionaire old Eton chum Zac Goldsmith, exposed as having non-domicile tax status which the Tories are supposed to be clamping down on. Non-doms' assets stay off-shore to avoid income, capital gains or inheritance taxes. Mr Goldsmith, as Cameron's environmental policy guru, wants more of our taxes to be spent on his pet green projects.

Fair enough if he paid tax like the rest of us. But, as ever, it's one rule for the rich and privileged and another for the rest.

I know I should judge people on their ideas and policies, rather than background or huge personal wealth. Trouble is, they condemn themselves by their actions.

The Lib Dems are also performing somersaults over their so-called "mansion tax" on homes valued at more than £1m. The usually unflappable Vince Cable's announcement was greeted with horrified howls by Lib Dem MPs from constituencies where a million barely pays for the servants' quarters. This week's new policy magically raises the threshold to £2m. Good to know they can re-write national fiscal policy on the basis of special pleading from two constituencies!

Expect a fair bit more of this nonsense from all parties, mine included, as the General Election approaches.

But the level of public scrutiny now in place often means party policy begins to unravel within hours of publication.

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