That well known Labour organ, The Times:
The Pandora papers …
Reveal the inner workings of a shadow economy in which wealthy autocrats, sometimes using money of unknown origin, can buy power and influence in the West. It is a process that strikes at the very heart of democracy and should shake up the British establishment which has made itself complicit in what some suspect is a Russian attempt to turn London and the Home Counties into a giant laundromat.
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, suggested at the weekend her aim would be to build up “the freedom-loving pro-democracy grouping of countries ... so non-aligned countries aren’t pulled into the orbit of authoritarian regimes”. Ambitious words for an aspiring Global Britain but the country has put itself at the disposal of autocrats everywhere; a sprawling army of lawyers, financial fixers, property scouts and public relations advisers have erected a system that essentially sells secrecy to the super-rich. Through complex webs of shell companies and offshore tax havens, fortunes can be hidden. As long as Britain actively seeks these roles, no strongman in Russia or central Asia need worry overmuch about being accountable to his citizens.