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Tory MPs scrambled to protect their wealthy sponsors yesterday in a heated Commons debate on tax cuts to the rich.
Treasury Minister David Gauke mounted a bullish defence of his government's abolition of the 50 per cent rate on high earners.
He complained that Labour plans to revive the 50p rate for those on £150,000-plus ignored "the long-term interests of this country" and sent a "stone-age message" of "bash the rich."
The cut only represented a £100 million handout to "the wealth creators," he added.
But shadow Treasury secretary Chris Leslie accused the government of masking the true scale of the benefit to the rich, which he said stood at £3 billion.
"You say we shouldn't worry about the revenues we would get from the 50p rate," he retorted to Mr Gauke.
"I'm sorry, but the country cannot afford that sort of attitude and those sorts of priorities."
