Dear <<First Name>>

What should we make of the latest accusations of sleaze? On Wednesday, a series of texts between Sir James Dyson and the Prime Minister were made public. They appear to show the PM promising tax breaks to the businessman in return for delivery of ventilators to help with the pandemic. 

I suspect many of us will have some sympathy with the idea that, at the height of the crisis, swift decisions had to be taken and even tax breaks offered if some genuine life-saving treatment required it.

However, for me, two questions remain. The first is why has Sir James located his business in Singapore in the first place, and thereby put himself and his staff in a position where they require special tax treatment to work in the UK? When this move was announced back in 2019, the low tax regime in Singapore appeared to be a factor. The second question is whether it’s appropriate for him to be able to text the PM in this way, especially with no civil servants present? 

The problem for the government is that in normal times a revelation like this might occupy no more than one news cycle, but it is coming on the back of a series of sleaze allegations. And integrity in public life, as in all of life, matters. This week, I posted an extended theological reflection on why it’s important that tax fraud and benefit fraud are treated in a fair manner. In that article, I quoted the book of James where the author lambasts his church for showing favouritism to the wealthy. 

“Suppose a person comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor person in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the one wearing fine clothes and say, ‘Here’s a good seat for you,’ but say to the poor person, ‘You stand there’ or ‘Sit on the floor by my feet,’ have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” (James 2:2-4)

As I say in my article, the reason fairness matters is because each one of us has been created with the same value and dignity. No-one is more important than anyone else. In respect of the law, this should be true and we might say the same in regard to access to politicians. At present, we seem a long way away from both those realities.

Yours

Justin

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