Ashcroft vindicated - or maybe not

So Lord Ashcroft and the Tories are off the hook at last. All doubts have been removed about the residence status of the Tory Party’s vice-chairman and major donor.
Or so you might think if you saw William Hague on the Andrew Marr programme on Sunday. And even more so if you read the Independent’s write-up next day (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tories-finally-come-clean-on-ashcroft-tax-status-1817257.html). Andrew Grice, the Indy’s political editor, writes “Tories finally come clean on Ashcroft’s tax status”, and goes on to say that they have “confirmed that he is paying tax in Britain”. Job done.
Well, call me a pedantic old socialist cynic, but I’m not sure it has been. Look at what Mr Hague actually said. "My conclusion, having asked him, is that he fulfilled the obligations that were imposed on him at the time that he became a peer." He added: "I imagine that [paying taxes in the UK] was the obligation that was imposed on him." How nice that Mr Hague should be so trusting, and that he should possess such a vivid imagination!
Mr Hague’s motives are obvious, and perfectly respectable: he wants to get the Ashcroft issue off the table before the election campaign begins in earnest. It is rather strange that Central Office should have chosen the Independent to put out their version of the story: but spin, like the Almighty, moves in mysterious ways its wonders to perform. What is even stranger is that the political editor of a centre-Left paper should swallow the Central Office version hook, line and sinker.
I’m not impugning Mr Hague’s veracity: he strikes me as an honest man, as well as far too intelligent to think he can get away with telling porkies on TV. But a moment’s thought should reveal to us that what has been said is some way short of a firm statement that Lord Ashcroft is paying UK tax. And further pondering made it clear to me that Lord Ashcroft might never have paid a penny of UK tax, and Mr Hague’s statement would still not have been a lie.
Supposing (just supposing) that Lord Ashcroft had, in good faith, interpreted the obligations laid on him as falling short of an absolute requirement that he take up full UK residency for tax purposes. Then he would have been able to give Mr Hague the assurances requested. Meanwhile, Mr Hague’s imagination might always have led him astray, as imagination will. He does not state as a fact that Lord Ashcroft committed himself to full UK residence.
As far as I am concerned, the question has still not been answered. It will not be answered without an unequivocal statement in the form “Lord Ashcroft assures me that he has been a UK resident and a UK taxpayer since financial year X-Y”. I hope Labour have not been discouraged from asking it by the Independent’s trusting assurances. It still has the makings of a potential major embarrassment for the Conservatives.