Tory leadership hopeful Sajid Javid faced repeated questions over his tax affairs as he officially launched his campaign today.
The former Chancellor was dogged by inquiries as to where he was domiciled for tax purposes during an international career as a banker trousering millions of pounds a year.
The growing row risks derailing his bid for the party crown and No10.
Ex-Deutsche Bank executive Mr Javid squirmed: “I have been open and transparent about this, I have set out before this campaign that because before politics my job was an international job - I travelled a lot, I lived in the States, I lived in the UK, I lived in Singapore - I was a tax resident in different countries as part of my job.”
Get a daily morning politics briefing straight to your inbox. Sign up for the free Mirror Politics newsletter
He revealed he employed an accountant who would “help me with my international taxes as I moved around”.
Pressed on where he was domiciled and whether he used a tax haven, Mr Javid added: “The test for me was to make sure that whatever you do when it comes to your personal tax affairs, that it’s always correct, proper, within all the rules, and that was met at all times.”
Despite vowing transparency, he refused to say which countries he had been domiciled in, adding: “I’m not getting into any more detail about my personal tax affairs that were to do with a time when I was not in public life.”
He also risked stoking grassroots’ members anger with a pledge to build more houses, including creating garden towns.
“The way to do this is not to start building over tons of the green belt, I believe that’s not necessary,” he claimed.
“What is necessary is to be creative about it and I think we can do that through more garden villages and garden towns, using development corporations.
“I think there’s plenty of land out there that isn’t protected land that can be used to do just that.”
The Conservatives were forced to ditch their previous housebuilding blueprint after a huge revolt by shire voters.
The proposals were scrapped in the wake of a stunning defeat to the Lib Dems at the Chesham and Amersham by-election last year.
Mr Javid also took a vicious swipe at one his key rivals for the party premiership, Rishi Sunak.
Without naming the former Chancellor, Mr Javid, whose 2019 bid for the top job flopped, said at his launch: “I’m not here to polish my back story, I think many people know it.
“I don’t have a readymade logo or a slick video ready to go.”
Mr Sunak’s operation has been mocked for its slick branding and “Ready for Rishi” slogan.
Mr Javid warned Tory MPs and activists the party could face a 1997-style defeat and "electoral oblivion" unless it changes.
"Over the last couple of years, our reputation on most values and policies has slid away,” he said.
“Too many people now believe that Labour are fit to govern - some of them say that Labour are more competent and even more likely to cut taxes."
Mr Javid added that the political situation was starting to "feel very familiar", adding: "We cannot be complacent about the situation that we are now in.
“This is a 'wake up and smell the coffee' moment - sleaze, scandal, internal warfare; we have seen this movie before and we know how it ends.”
He outlined a string of manifesto promises, including cutting income tax by a penny, scrapping the national insurance hike he voted for, axing a planned corporation hike, and a 10p fuel duty cut within days of becoming Prime Minister.
Kicking off his fight for the top job, he said: “I am fundamentally optimistic about Britain and as a party we have a great opportunity in the coming days and weeks to showcase our talent, to test our ideas, and to recommit ourselves to a mission.
“If we can unite together behind a new sense of purpose with the right leadership - but most importantly the right team - I believe that we can meet the scale of our challenges, and that we can come through them with our best days still lying ahead.”
His 18-page plan includes a £5billion package to cut energy bills and “provide further support for the cost of living on top of existing support announced this year”.
But Mr Javid warned: “The cost of living crunch coming this Autumn will be particularly severe and millions of families will be affected as energy bills rise.
“We must be prepared to go further than these steps and leave no options off the table if conditions demand.”
