Mishandled offshore row, admits Cameron

British Prime Minister David Cameron. Reuters File Photo

British Prime Minister David Cameron has admitted that he had mishandled the controversy over his shares in his father’s offshore business interests.

He said he would publish his tax returns and shouldered the blame for the row over his financial affairs. “It has not been a great week. I know that I should have handled this better, I could have handled this better.

“I know there are lessons to learn and I will learn them. Don’t blame Number 10 Downing Street or nameless advisers; blame me,” he told his Conservative Party's spring forum.

Cameron and his wife had held a stake in his father’s Blairmore Holdings scheme. They bought the stake for £12,497 in 1997 and sold it for £31,500, four months before he became prime minister in 2010.