Hague invited to Ashcroft hearing

William Hague has been invited to come before the Public Administration Select Committee next Thursday to shed what light he can on how Michael Ashcroft got his peerage. Ashcroft told Hague in 2000, in his solemn and binding undertaking, that he would become a permanent UK resident. But we now know from Ashcroft himself that this changed to "long term" resident. This made a huge difference to his liability for tax. I have spoken to Peter Bradley, the former Labour MP for the Wrekin, about the Ashcroft saga. Peter has been following the twists and turns for years. He wants to know if the conditions were renegotiated and, if so, when, how and by whom? And how and by whom were they approved? As I explained in an earlier blog, Peter was in correspondence with Sir Richard Wilson, Cabinet Secretary at the time of Ashcroft's enoblement, and with his successor, Sir Andrew Turnbull. In...