Aaronson QC prefers Primarolo's naivety to hypocrisy, Tax Adviser reports

After we ran an article on Dawn Primarolo’s appearance at the Institute of Taxation the team at UKTECH were delighted to read in the new edition of the Institute’s magazine, Tax Adviser, a report giving feedback on the event. It seems at least the Tax Institute likes to consult.

Avid readers will know that Dawn made a hasty guest appearance and an even hastier exit, citing parliamentary commitments, but leaving just before the clued-up tax accountants were invited to ask questions of the guest speakers. Did she think she would be ‘hectored’ from the floor? In the event, top Inland Revenue man, Steve Matheson stepped in.

After the speeches, the panellists were asked for feedback and these have been printed in the magazine. In our experience, lawyers always like to use 10 words where one will do, but the words of top tax barrister Graham Aaronson, QC about Dawn are worth sharing:

"I really do prefer naivety or even foolishness in politicians to hypocrisy and deception. Dawn Primarolo seemed to be very pleasant, and clearly fell within the first pair rather than the second. I was particularly amused by the way in which she sincerely believed that the Budget measures would simplify matters and lead to a fairer and more efficient tax system. While I might have thought that someone with the several years experience in the job that she had would have realised the silliness of such statements, she seemed entirely at ease with her consciousness in making them."

Unfortunately, it appears that Matheson’s thoughts on his boss were not recorded.