Cameron insists he's not a chip off the tax-avoiding block

David Cameron has said he has no shares, no offshore trust and no overseas funds Credit: PA

However much any of us may love and honour our fathers, it really isn't on to hold us responsible for what our dads did while we were growing up.

So the revelation about quite how adept David Cameron's late father Ian was at tax avoidance surely can't be laid at the prime minister's door.

That said, David Cameron and Downing Street apparently feels vulnerable about all this - or why else would they be shouting quite so loudly about how the prime minister has been "leading the way" with crackdowns on tax avoiders and tax evaders?

But what about the prime minister as an economic entity in his own right - does he engage in tax "planning", to use the euphemism employed by accountants who devise clever schemes to legally reduce their clients' tax liabilities?

Well Cameron insisted this afternoon that he has no shares, no offshore trust, no overseas funds, no hidden wealth - just a house that's rented out and some interest-paying savings.

So he is categorically not a chip off the tax avoiding block, he more-or-less said.

But it was striking that the prime minister used the first person singular when talking about this.

David and Samantha during their holiday in Playa Blanca, Lanzarote in March. Credit: PA

He did not include his wife Sam and children in this drawing back of the veil on his assets.

I have asked Downing Street whether David Cameron's "I" was actually a "we" - whether the assets he discloses are all the property and wealth of his children and wife Sam too.

They haven't yet got back to me on this.

Was my question impertinent, as Downing Street half implied?

Well I suppose if Sam Cameron has chosen to be a tax avoider, that would be her own business - though it would be a bit odd given the potential embarrassment to her husband.

As for the children, well they are not old enough to instruct clever-clogs accountants, so it is surely reasonable to assume that David Cameron's clean hands display must refer to them too - because the damage to him would be serious it that turned out not to be the case.

UPDATE

Downing Street has just turned David Cameron's "I" into a "we".It says: "to be clear, the prime minister, his wife and their children do not benefit from any offshore funds".

But "Mrs Cameron owns a small number of shares connected to her father's land, which she declares on her tax return".