The people connected to David Cameron who are linked to tax avoidance

Details have emerged this week that the company Samantha Cameron – the prime minister’s wife – works for is based in a tax haven.

Smythson – a luxury leather goods retailer with a Royal Warrant from the Queen – is owned through a parent company in Luxembourg and connected to a trust in Guernsey.

Mrs Cameron worked as a creative director for the company before husband David came to power and has since worked for them in a part-time consultancy role.

Despite the prime minister repeatedly speaking out against tax avoidance in the past, his wife isn’t the only one in his inner circle to be connected to unusual tax arrangements.

Ian Cameron (father)

In 2012, the Guardian reported that Cameron’s father had built up the family’s fortune in a “network of offshore investment funds”. Though entirely legal, the funds based in Panama City and Geneva were reported to have boasted of their ability to skirt UK tax jurisdiction.

Gary Barlow

The prime minister was left red-faced after Gary Barlow and two of his Take That bandmates Mark Owen and Howard Donald, as well as manager Jonathan Wild, were found to have invested in a tax avoidance scheme last year.

Barlow had previously joined Cameron on the campaign trail in the build-up to the 2010 general election as the face of a national campaign to get more music into schools.

Cameron had initially refused to comment on the Conservative supporter’s tax arrangements despite criticising comedian Jimmy Carr (not a Conservative supporter) who was involved in a different tax avoidance scheme. Cameron subsequently re-iterated his opposition to all “aggressive tax avoidance”.

Marks & Spencer

Sir Stuart Rose, the former chairman of Marks & Spencer, was criticised by Labour this week after he accused the party of “anti-business policies” in light of its row with Boots – whose owner is based in Monaco.

Chuka Umunna, the shadow business secretary, hit back by pointing out that Lord Rose is a Tory peer (being given the peerage by Mr Cameron) and therefore his comments were clearly not impartial.

Since Rose stood down as chairman of Marks & Spencer, the company has been criticised for tax arrangements it used for its online sales in Europe.

Marks & Spencer has insisted it pays UK corporation tax on all profits generated by UK sales and comply with the tax laws of all jurisdictions in which it operates.

Lord Rose has previously defended the 50 per cent rate of tax for high earners and said: “If, in the short term, a case was made for me to pay more than 50 per cent tax, which would help UK plc, I personally – Stuart Rose – would be prepared to pay more tax.”

Charles Dunstone

Dunstone is the owner of Carphone Warehouse and regarded as part of the Chipping Norton set.

Carphone Warehouse came bottom of a Fair Tax Campaign league table (£) in 2013 which ranked 25 high street chains based on their tax disclosures, whether they paid an “acceptable” rate of tax and whether they used tax havens.

The company disputed the campaign’s figures and methodology and said it pays all its tax and that the results of the study “bears no resemblance to reality”.

Joanna Shields

A former senior executive of Google and Facebook, both criticised for their tax avoidance in the UK, Joanna Shields was given a peerage by the Conservatives last year and also appointed as the UK’s ambassador for digital industries by Cameron. Shields appeared to defend the tax arrangements of the tech giants, saying in October 2012: “What’s missing from the story is why people do it. The reason those companies make those decisions is because of the investment environment and the tax environment.”

Sir Philip Green’s family tax affairs

In 2005, Arcadia – the parent company of Topshop – paid a legal £1.2bn dividend to Sir Philip’s Monaco based wife, Tina. Sir Philip, the chairman of the company, is based in the UK. The company is ultimately owned by Tina.

Sir Philip has said: “My wife’s not a tax exile – my family do not live in the United Kingdom, it’s somewhat different. I’m a UK taxpayer, I work here every week, we employ 45,000 people in the UK and we have got a £500 million payroll. Responding to questioning over the deal, Green said: “We run this business 100 per cent correctly. We run it better than a public company. We know people are watching.”

In 2012, Sir Philip was appointed by Cameron to lead a review into government spending.

Eric Schmidt

The executive chairman of Google met Cameron at Downing Street in 2013 as part of the Business Advisory Group – a small group of elite business advisers – shortly after a Commons committee criticised the tech giant for its tax affairs.

It is alleged that the prime minister failed to confront Schmidt on the company’s tax dealings – paying a reported £6m in tax despite profits of £2.6bn – and Mr Schmidt then appeared to leave by a back door to avoid photographers.

Schmidt previously responded to criticism of Google’s tax strategy by saying he was “proud” of the steps it had taken to cut its tax bill which were just “capitalism”. “We did it based on the incentives that the governments offered us to operate,” he explained.

The Silicon Valley boss went on to suggest that Google would not turn down the opportunity to draw on the big savings allowed under the law in the countries it operates in: “It’s called capitalism. We are proudly capitalistic. I’m not confused about this.”

Separate reports have suggested that senior government ministers had met with Google executives 23 times between 2010 and 2012.

George Osborne subsequently announced the so-called “Google tax” in his 2014 Autumn Statement. The 25 per cent Diverted Profits Tax which is aimed at tackling multinational corporations who divert profits offshore is due to come into effect in April.