The reclusive super-rich twins Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, who became notorious for their use of tax havens to manage their vast business empire, lobbied the Labour government to abolish inheritance tax altogether, Cabinet Office papers reveal.
Sir David and Sir Frederick, as well as the latter’s son Aidan Barclay, were present at a 1999 meeting with Tony Blair, then serving his first term as prime minister, the files show.
“The Barclays suggest abolishing the inheritance tax, a proposal that had not been taken up by Mrs Thatcher or John Major,” wrote Blair’s then chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, in a document prepared on 15 February that year to place the meeting on record.
At the time of the meeting, the family was in the midst of a long-running battle with authorities in Sark in the Channel Islands, where they lived, partly over the way inheritance was handled there.
The brothers built a huge home for themselves on the neighbouring island of Brecqhou that afforded the privacy known to be particularly important to the reclusive siblings. But they came into conflict with the semi-feudal system of governance.
In 2017, the release of the Paradise Papers brought to light details of a meeting in the tax haven of Bermuda during which the twins sought to keep their financial dealings out of sight using legal means.
Sir David died in 2021. In recent years, members of his family have been embroiled in legal battles with his brother Sir Frederick and his relatives, while the latter twin has also been through a costly divorce. The family briefly lost control of the Telegraph and Spectator titles which they have owned for almost 20 years amid a dispute over more than £1bn in unpaid debts. They regained control earlier this month with the help of money from the UAE.
Spokespeople for Aidan Barclay and Blair declined to comment. Representatives of Sir Frederick Barclay have been contacted for comment.
• This article was amended on 29 December 2023. Because of an editing error, an earlier version said the Barclay brothers owned the Telegraph and Spectator titles in 1999. They did not buy the titles until July 2004.
