One of David Cameron's closest advisers on the environment insists he would not be corrupted by powerZac Goldsmith, the Tory candidate for Richmond, and one of David Cameron's closest advisers on the environment, insisted yesterday he would not be corrupted by power, and said politics had to enter a new era of transparency and integrity to regain trust, including on green taxes.In remarks lasting over an hour, he insisted no new nuclear power stations would be built under a Tory government, admitted he would not want the support of Rupert Murdoch's Sun and described the paper's campaign against Gordon Brown over his treatment of bereaved relatives in the Afghan war as repulsive.He also said that if a Cameron government did not make progress on environmental issues after one term in power, then the Tories' political share price would go "through the floor".He was speaking a day after he admitted that he was a non-domicile, but insisted that he had done nothing wrong in inheriting this tax status from his father. He stressed he paid tax on all his
UK activities, and denied he had avoided paying capital gains tax on any of his British activities.Speaking at an event in London organised by a semi-spiritual group, Alternatives, he admitted that he was seen by some as a wealthy Tory green toff, but refused to take questions on his tax status with reporters afterwards.He insisted: "I find it hard to imagine how I would be corrupted by power because I have no great career path planned out." He said the reputation of politics had fallen to a new low, but that politics was changing for the good due to the expenses scandal.The controversy over his tax status did not lead Goldsmith to hold back on expressing stark views on other issues.He called for a mandatory ban on plastic bags in supermarkets, a scaling back of the BBC to its core purpose and the closure of the
food standards agency. He also predicted President Obama had used up his political capital on
health iss ...
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