What William Hague knew about Lord Ashcroft's tax status

23 May 1999 After the first refusal to accept Michael Ashcroft for a peerage in 1999, Hague, then Tory leader, writes a letter to Tony Blair confirming Ashcroft is "non-resident for tax purposes", but adding: "He is, however, committed to becoming resident by the next financial year in order properly to fulfil his responsibilities in the House of Lords. This decision will cost him (and benefit the Treasury) tens of millions a year in tax yet he considers it worthwhile." 21 July 1999 After Ashcroft issues a writ against the Times over its long-running campaign against his business dealings in Belize, Hague refers to the matter in his end of term address to Tory MPs at Westminster. He has supported the libel action and kept on Ashcroft as party treasurer. To applause, Hague says: "I am not going to allow people to be driven from positions in the party by smear and innuendo." 10 December 1999 In an interview in the Times about the end of the legal dispute between the newspaper and Ashcroft, Hague speaks about Ashcroft's public announcement that he will move back to Britain. Hague, in Helsinki for a meeting with centre-right European leaders, says Ashcroft had always said in private that he intends to move back to Britain. "But this is the first time he has said it in public. It does not change anything as far as I am concerned." 2 April 2000 Hague tells GMTV's Sunday programme that Ashcroft was joking when he said he wanted to be known as "Lord Ashcroft of Belize and somewhere in the UK" in an interview on 1 April. Asked whether he would be happy with Lord Ashcroft of Belize, Hague said: "No, I think that was a little joke he was having yesterday, and should be taken as a joke rather than written up as a genuinely serious story." Hague denies reports he called Tony Blair to "beg" him for a peerage for Ashcroft. "Reports that I phoned to beg for a peerage for Michael Ashcroft are not true," Hague says. "I phoned him at Lisbon and many other places – he phones me at many other places. That is not an exceptional thing." 2 June 2009 Hague faces 17 questions from Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight about Lord Ashcroft. Paxman: "Just one final point, in the current climate of suspicion about politics your deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft, a man whose peerage you lobbied for, saying that he would become resident in Britain for tax purposes, can you just tell us, is he resident in Britain for tax purposes now?" Hague: "I've no reason to think that he's not complied with the requirement that he entered into …" Paxman: "Have you asked him directly?" Hague: "I have discussed it with him and I have no reason to think he hasn't complied." 8 November 2009 Asked on the BBC's Andrew Marr programme whether Ashcroft now pays tax in Britain, Hague replies: "My conclusion, having asked him, is that he fulfilled the obligations that were imposed on him at the time that he became a peer." Here is a transcript: Hague: "I'm sure he fulfils the obligations that were imposed on him at the time he became …" Marr: "Have you asked him?" Hague: "I have asked him." Marr: "And?" Hague: "Because I've been asked whether I've asked him before. My conclusion having asked him is that he fulfilled the obligations that were imposed on him at the time that he became a peer." Marr: "So does he pay taxes in the UK?" Hague: "Well that, well that, I imagine that was the obligation that was imposed on him." Marr: "So you think he does?" Hague: "So I think he's fulfilled what was asked of him." Marr: "I don't understand." Hague: "Well, you can't expect me to know every detail of somebody's tax affairs. But I have asked him and he has …" Marr: "But you must have asked him … yes or no, surely?" Hague: "I've asked him and he fulfils the obligations that were imposed on him …" 3 March 2010 Hague is asked by Harriet Harman in the Commons: "What has happened to the tens of millions of pounds of taxes that the shadow foreign secretary promised would be paid by Lord Ashcroft?" Hague replies: "If she wants to discuss the House of Lords, I am sure that she will want to explain the position of Lord Paul, who was made a privy counsellor after he bought 6,000 copies of the prime minister's book on courage. Never has so much been given for so few people to read so many words in vain. She might also want to explain why Labour took half a million pounds from a non-dom hedge fund manager called Mr Bollinger. Champagne socialism is alive and well in the Labour party, obviously." 3 March 2010 Hague says he only learned of the non-dom status of Ashcroft a few months ago. In an interview with the BBC's The World Tonight, he says he had not previously known the details of the peer's arrangement with the Cabinet Office. Asked when he found out, Hague replies: "Over the last few months I knew about that." 18 March 2010 Hague admits he was wrong to say Ashcroft would pay tens of millions more in tax after the deal struck in 2000 allowing the Tory donor a seat in the Lords. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Hague says it was an "entirely legitimate criticism" that the party had not revealed Ashcroft's tax status until this year despite concerted pressure – but says many other peers of all parties are non-doms and individuals have a right to privacy. He says he went to Ashcroft "around the turn of the year" to tell him the pressure for the party to reveal his tax status had reached the point where he would have to go public. "We were coming under so many questions about him that I said to him: 'Well, we are going to have to say.' And so we had that conversation and then he had a conversation with David Cameron and then he made his announcement." Hague repeats his insistence that he "did not go into the detail" of the agreement that committed Ashcroft to be a resident in the UK and had not asked about the tax element "as far as anyone involved can recollect".