David Cameron has been castigated today for saying what everybody knows: Nigeria is a “fantastically” corrupt country.
Why else are Nigeria’s representatives attending an anti-corruption summit in London this week?
Yet it wasn’t long before unctuous voices could be heard speaking out against the prime minister anyway.
One of the loudest belonged to Diane Abbott.
In characteristically patronising tones, the Labour shadow international development secretary told the BBC: “For the prime minister to sneer at Nigeria and Afghanistan, who clearly have governance challenges, when he is not doing all he can to clean up our tax havens, is ridiculous. We will have the moral high ground in relation to countries like Nigeria and Afghanistan when we clear up the British havens.”
This is the same Diane Abbott who, according to parliamentary records, in May 2012 addressed the Lagos State House Assembly in Nigeria in exchange for a £2,500 fee plus £4,000 of flights and accommodation.
A year later Abbott again flew to Lagos and was paid £1,000 to give a speech about democracy. On top of this, her £1,500 expenses were paid.
And in November 2013 Abbott picked up a £1,000 fee for giving a speech at the 1st African Legislative Summit in another Nigerian city, Abuja. This time her expenses – all paid by her hosts – came to £5,000.
So – £4,500 in fees and £10,500 in expenses for Ms Abbott from this “governance challenged” country.
Furthermore, in July 2014 Abbott pocketed a £2,500 fee – plus the cost of flights to St Helier and accommodation there – for giving a speech to the Jersey Community Relations Trust.
I have no idea what Ms Abbott’s tax affairs are and am not suggesting that she has in any way avoided paying her fair share.
But Jersey is a British Crown Dependancy. It is therefore one of “our” tax havens – one in which Ms Abbott has been very happy to do business herself.