So, Lord Ashcroft has finally confirmed that he is a non-dom. In other news, Pontiff confirms adherence to Rome, and tourists are warned to 'watch where you're putting your feet' in sylvan ursine sanctuary...

The giveaway, as I pointed out over two years ago, was his comment on the same site that 'if home is where the heart is, Belize is my home', which mutatis mutandis should promptly be adopted as a slogan by everyone trying to maintain a domicile of origin outside the UK.

Why did William Hague think Ashcroft had promised to become domiciled here? The news reports did not explain this properly, no doubt finding it all a bit too complicated, but Ashcroft makes it clear.

What he promised was to become 'a permanent resident' of the UK.

That does sound rather like being domiciled here, but in subsequent correspondence with 'the Government' (which bit of it, I wonder?) he established that this meant 'a long-term resident'.

His status was 'therefore' that of a non-dom, he said.

Not exactly as night follows day, no, but you can certainly see how Hague came to say that Ashcroft woud be paying 'millions of pounds of tax to the Treasury', when in fact most of it would be outside the UK tax net.

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