Jim Armitage: the Paradise disclosures are welcome

Anyone cringeing at the Paradise Papers’ revelations about offshore havens, stop. The whole debate is being run by a tiny cabal of “extreme Left-wing campaigners” and should be ignored.

That’s according to Anthony Travers, chairman of the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange. The same Anthony Travers who says journalists writing about the Papers should be jailed.

So: US Secretary of State Wilbur Ross’s undeclared investments in Russia — Commie propaganda. Prince Charles’s lobbying on carbon credits that directly affected one of his offshore investments? Marxist tittle-tattle. A law firm creating a school fees scholarship programme where its own wealthy clients’ kids win the awards? Trotskyite propaganda.

It is true that most offshore investments are above board and aimed at reducing double taxation, not any taxation. That’s a significant difference.

But it is healthy that the public learns more about how the offshore industry works, both positively and negatively.

I’m an ardent capitalist, and welcome the Paradise disclosures.