Today’s Daily Telegraph reports that top Tory Zac Goldsmith did not tell his local party about his ‘non-dom’ tax status when he was selected to fight the next election against the Lib Dems’ Susan Kramer:

Earlier this week announced that he [sic] planned to surrender his “non-dom” status from the current tax year to defuse the row. However yesterday it was disclosed that Mr Goldsmith had failed to tell his local Conservative party about his tax status when he was selected as prospective parliamentary candidate for Richmond Park in March 2007. Pamela Fleming, the association’s chairman, said the matter was not discussed because “we did not ask the question. He was not asked about it. It did not come up”.

You can read the full story here.

Meanwhile, Lib Dem shadow home secretary Chris Huhne has today written to Tory leader David Cameron to ask him to give a simple yes or no answer to the question of whether Tory donor and deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft is resident in the UK for tax purposes.

Chris’s intervention follows Conservative Party Chairman Eric Pickles’ failure to give a clear answer on this morning’s BBC Radio 4 Today programme, on which he said, “So far as I know, [Lord Ashcroft] has fulfilled all of his obligations being a member of the House of Lords […] I dare say that if you get his lordship on the programme, he will be very happy to answer for you.”

As Chris comments:

David Cameron must act to ensure that the Tories who vote on this country’s laws pay its taxes. In the wake of the non-dom Zac Goldsmith revelations, it looks increasingly like the Tories see taxes as something that happens to other people.

“The Conservatives have persistently refused to come clean on what Lord Ashcroft’s tax status is – even though he sits in the House of Lords and is bankrolling their election campaign. Cameron must tell us whether Ashcroft is resident in the UK for tax purposes – yes or no.

“If Zac Goldsmith must give up his non-dom status to stand for Parliament, how can Lord Ashcroft be a non-dom and sit in Parliament?”

Here’s the full text of Chris’s letter to David Cameron:

Dear David,
On this morning’s Today programme your Party Chairman Eric Pickles, when asked about Lord Ashcroft’s tax status, said: “I dare say that if you get his lordship on the programme, he will be very happy to answer for you.”
If it is the case that this issue can be so easily cleared up, I would appreciate it if you could publicly give a simple yes or no answer as to whether Lord Ashcroft is resident in the UK for tax purposes.
I look forward to your reply.
Best wishes,
Chris Huhne MP
Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary