'˜I botched tax row', PM David Cameron admits

David Cameron had a taxable income of more than £200,000 in 2014-15 and paid almost £76,000 in tax, an unprecedented release of his personal finance details show.

David Cameron speaks at the Tories spring forum in London. Photograph: PA

The figures reveal that, on top of his income as Prime Minister, his 50 per cent share of the rental income on the Camerons’ family home in London amounted to £46,899, he received £9,834 in taxable expenses from the Tory party and £3,052 in interest on savings in a high street bank.

It is also revealed that when he first entered Downing Street in 2010 he took advantage of a £20,000 tax-free allowance as part of his £142,500 salary.

The information, first promised in 2012 but released following the uproar about Cameron’s shares in an offshore fund set up by his father Ian, shows that he earned enough to benefit from the cut in the top rate of tax from 50p to 45p.

Announced in 2012 for people earning more than £150,000, the cut came into effect in April 2013.

Cameron said he was publishing the information to be “completely open and transparent” about his financial affairs.

He has announced the creation of a cross-government task force to examine the Panama Papers for signs of tax evasion and money laundering.

The task force will be led by HM Revenue & Customs and the National Crime Agency and draw on investigators, compliance specialists and analysts from HMRC, the National Crime Agency, the Serious Fraud Office and the Financial Conduct Authority.

Speaking at the Conservative Party’s spring forum in central London yesterday, he said: “It has not been a great week. I know I should have handled this better, I could have handled this better.

“I know there are lessons to learn and I will learn them. Don’t blame Number 10 Downing Street or nameless advisers, blame me.”

Cameron continued: “I was obviously very angry about what people were saying about my dad. I loved my dad, I miss him every day.

“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.”

The Prime Minister has admitted he made a £19,000 profit from a Bahamas-based fund set up by his father, Ian Cameron.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called for the Prime Minister to make a formal Commons statement on the issue, claiming Cameron had “misled the public” and “lost the trust of the British people”.

Corbyn said he will press Cameron on the issue in parliament tomorrow.

The Prime Minister is one of scores of political leaders, celebrities and sports stars who have been linked to shell companies and investment trusts organised by the Panama City-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, which specialises in registering offshore companies.