He has been a high-profile and effusive champion of the Isle of Man as an offshore finance centre.
Invited to the island in 2011 to deliver the Chief Minister’s International Lecture, Cities of London and Westminster MP Mark Field said it was time to expose some tax haven myths – and that far from playing a part in the global financial crisis, offshores had helped provide liquidity through the millions they channelled into the City.
There was more praise from the Tory MP in December last year when he hailed the move to sign FATCA automatic tax information exchange deals with the UK and US as a ‘bold decision’ which would protect our economic future.
Now it has emerged that Mr Field received £40,000 last year for being an advisor to leading island-based international law firm Cains.
The payment is the largest of payments from four organisations in 2012 totalling £84,500 which he has detailed in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.
His payment from Cains is listed as being for advice on ‘government and parliamentary aspects of financial services’.
Mr Field declined to comment.
But Cains director Andrew Corlett described the MP’s advice as ‘invaluable’.
He said: ‘Mark is a personal friend and former lawyer with Freshfields.
‘He has been an adviser to Cains since 2011 and this interest is fully disclosed in the [UK] Members’ Register of Financial Interests
‘Mark is not a lobbyist but rather advises and assists us principally in relation to helping to bring international business to the City of London, a core market for us.
‘Our success in this regard and our contribution to the UK has been recognised by winning the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade in 2009 which was given by Her Majesty upon the advice of the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
‘Mark is well placed to assist us as MP for the City.
‘He has articulated for many years the important role , particularly in relation to liquidity, well regulated and transparent international centres such as the Crown Dependencies symbiotically play in the functioning of London as a global financial centre.
‘We regard the advice and counsel we receive from Mark as invaluable at a crucial time in the maturity and development of the Isle of Man as a thought leader in the offshore world following the G8 commitments with the consequent need to deepen external relations.’
