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Jane Moore sought to shelter £200,000 in the scheme, according to the Times |
“CELEBS blasted as hypocrites,” the Sun roared, reporting that stars who used the Liberty tax-avoidance fund – exposed earlier this month by its sister paper the Times – were “sticking up two fingers at ordinary workers”. A chorus of Sun columnists agreed. “Liberty sounds like a scam,” Tony Parsons reckoned. Rod Liddle hoped that everyone who used these “shady tax avoidance schemes” would “cop it”. Louise Mensch opined: "You can’t claim to support the welfare state if you live in Britain but dodge your taxes.”
Investors in the Liberty fund included George Michael, Katie Melua, Gary Barlow and the Arctic Monkeys. As the Sun noted, however, there were also “doctors and dentists and even lawyers and judges”.
Nothing to say
And, it omitted to add, its own hacks. A Sun columnist who had nothing to say about the tax revelations last week was Jane Moore, who had sought to shelter £200,000 in the Liberty fund according to documents obtained by the Times. Her husband Gary Farrow, PR man for Sir Elton John and Jeremy Clarkson, put in a further £450,000.
PS: Three years ago Gary Farrow was awarded an OBE for “services to the music industry and charity”. When his near namesake Gary Barlow was in hot water two months ago over another tax avoidance scheme, the Sun invited readers to say whether the singer should be stripped of his OBE. Will it now do the same for Jane Moore’s hubby?
PPS: When the tax arrangements of comedian Jimmy Carr hit the headlines two years ago, it was his PR man who advised him to issue a public apology and plead for forgiveness. “You’ve got to deal with it and take it on the chin,” Gary Farrow (for it was he) told PR Week. “We’re working around it. It’s going to plateau out.” Wise words! |
