Dame Margaret Hodge, the Labor MP for Barking, said in a letter that it would be “grossly inappropriate” for the new Chancellor of the Exchequer to have benefited financially from the use of offshore structures. Hodge, who previously headed parliament’s public accounts committee, asked Zahawi to explain his connection to companies based in Gibraltar, the British overseas territory known for its low tax rates. He asked the Iraqi-born millionaire if offshore companies were used to build the £105m property portfolio he owns with his wife, Lana. Although legal, campaigners say the use of tax havens
