British PM Cameron battles back from stinging criticism over Panama Papers

British Prime Minister David Cameron fought back Monday after days of criticism over his finances, lashing out at what he called hurtful and untrue claims about his late father’s investments sparked by leaked details about the offshore accounts of the rich and famous in the Panama Papers.

Trying to restore his government’s shaken reputation, Cameron insisted that “aspiration and wealth creation are not somehow dirty words” and said Britain was acting to stop evasion in its overseas tax havens.

Cameron has been under mounting pressure since his father, Ian Cameron, was identified as a client of a Panamanian law firm that specialises in helping the wealthy reduce their tax burdens. The prime minister initially refused to say whether he had a stake in Blairmore Holdings, an offshore firm established by his father, before acknowledging he had sold his shares in it shortly before he was elected in 2010.

“I accept all of the criticisms for not responding more quickly to these issues last week,” Cameron told lawmakers in the House of Commons. “But as I said, I was angry about the way my father’s memory was being traduced.”

Cameron said his father had set up an investment fund overseas so it could trade in dollar securities — “an entirely standard practise and it is not to avoid tax.” He said millions of Britons had investments in such funds through their workplace pensions.

Cameron said “there have been some deeply hurtful and profoundly untrue allegations made against my father,” who died in 2010.