tony blair promised tax reform, but he and his wife saved money when they bought this place in central london in 2017. it cost them £6.5 million. the stamp duty on a property like this would be more than £300,000. that s what you or i would pay if we bought this property direct from somebody else. but the blairs didn t pay it. that s because the property was owned by an offshore company and the blairs bought that company rather than the property itself. no rules were broken, no stamp duty to pay. that doesn t look great, - and so, even if what the blairs did was perfectly legal, perfectly legitimate - in the business world, - it feels instinctively really unfair, because they got access to an advantage, | a potential advantage - that the rest of us don t have. cherie blair told the bbc they didn t request to structure the transaction this way and that,
on his way to power, tony blair promised tax reform, but he and his wife saved money when they bought this place in central london in 2017. it cost them £6.5 million. the stamp duty on a property like this would be more than £300,000. that s what you or i would pay if we bought this property direct from somebody else. but the blairs didn t pay it. that s because the property was owned by an offshore company and the blairs bought that company rather than the property itself. no rules were broken, no stamp duty to pay. that doesn t look great, and so, even if what the blairs did - was perfectly legal, perfectly legitimate in the business world, - it feels instinctively unfair, because they got access - to an advantage, a potential advantage that the rest of us don t have. - cherie blair told the bbc
when they bought this place in central london in 2017. it cost them £6.5 million. the stamp duty on a property like this would be more than £300,000. that s what you or i would pay if we bought this property direct from somebody else. but the blairs didn t pay it. that s because the property was owned by an offshore company and the blairs bought that company rather than the property itself. no rules were broken, no stamp duty to pay. that doesn t look great, and so, even if what the blairs did was perfectly legal, perfectly legitimate in the business world, it feels instinctively unfair, because they got access to an advantage, a potential advantage that the rest of us don t have. cherie blair told the bbc they didn t request to structure the transaction this way and that, after purchase, they had brought the property under uk tax and regulatory rules.