Harriet Harman was accused of 'hypocrisy' yesterday for attacking Tory plans to cut inheritance tax although her own family exploited loopholes to shelter their fortune from the levy.
The Labour deputy leader was revealed to be one of the beneficiaries of a trust set up in her father's will designed to reduce the amount of tax she would eventually pay on his estate.
Miss Harman has repeatedly railed against the Tory proposal to raise the inheritance threshold substantially, describing it as a 'tax cut for the wealthiest estates'.
But documents show how her father attempted to use complex tax avoidance loopholes to protect some of his fortune from the Inland Revenue.
Harriet Harman's family have exploited loopholes to shelter their fortune from the tax levy
John Bishop Harman, a surgeon who died in 1994, set up a trust designed to minimise the amount his children would pay in tax on his £750,000 estate.
He created a 'nil-rate-band discretionary trust', a structure used by wealthy families at that time.
It allows one spouse to transfer assets up to the value of the inheritance tax threshold to a trust when he or she dies, and name the chosen heirs as beneficiaries.
The remaining estate passed on to the surviving spouse is correspondingly smaller, limiting the tax liability to the children on their death and effectively doubling the inheritance tax threshold.
One expert said the family would have had to go 'out of their way' to draw up the then little-known arrangement.
The Conservatives claimed it undermined Miss Harman's 'class war' attacks on their proposals to lift the inheritance tax burden.
Tory chairman Eric Pickles said: 'Harriet Harman's hypocrisy is breathtaking. You need to judge Labour not on what they say, but on what they do.'
Let us pray: Gordon Brown at the Church of the New Testament in Streatham yesterday
Tax experts said that the rules changed in 2007, since when couples have been allowed to transfer their inheritance tax allowances - making trusts of the kind Mr Harman set up redundant.
Miss Harman's mother Anna is still alive, aged 91, and would now be able to use her late husband's tax allowance when making a will even if he had not set up the trust.
But had the inheritance been passed on before 2007, Miss Harman and her siblings would have benefited by thousands of pounds.
Mark Spragg, an expert in probate at Keystone Law, said of the trust scheme: 'Not everybody would have known about it at the time. It wasn't widely publicised by the Revenue.
This was something people thought up as a good idea. It was an avoidance scheme when it came out - it was obviously a bit of a tactic.'
John Bishop Harman was a member of the Royal College of Surgeons who lived and practised on Harley Street. His sister was married to the celebrated aristocrat, the Earl of Longford.
He died in May 1994 and left his estate to Anna, an heiress to a paper manufacturing firm, and his four children as beneficiaries of the trust fund. The children stand to benefit when their mother dies.
The house where Miss Harman grew up, 108 Harley Street, was sold in 1990, for an undisclosed amount. Similar properties sell today for upwards of £15million.
Dr Harman's will shows he left £758,472 to his wife - which would have been the value of stocks, shares, and cash rather than any properties owned by the couple.
Miss Harman, who is tipped as a potential 'caretaker' leader for Labour if Gordon Brown quits after a defeat in Thursday's general election, has attacked Tory plans for inheritance tax several times.
Under the current system, when someone dies the estate is liable for inheritance tax if the value is more than £325,000.
That £325,000 is now transferrable between couples, even if they die in different years, so in practice a husband and wife would actually have a combined threshold of £650,000.
The Tories have pledged to increase this to £1million, or £2million if transferred between couples.
A spokesman for Labour's deputy leader said: 'Miss Harman's father's will was a matter for him. Her mother is still alive and her financial arrangements are private.'
A source close to Miss Harman said she had not benefited from any income drawn from the trust.
My bizarre chat with Gordon, by 'bigot' widow
The pensioner who Gordon Brown called a bigot has revealed that he invited her to meet his family in Downing Street as part of a desperate attempt to persuade her to pose for pictures with him.
Gillian Duffy described an excruciating 40-minute conversation with the Prime Minister in which he repeatedly begged her to make a public act of forgiveness in front of the cameras.
Mrs Duffy, 66, a lifelong Labour voter, bluntly told Mr Brown that she would not be voting for him following his insult, which was caught by a live microphone.
'I said, "I'm sorry for you Gordon, because you have more to lose than me. I'm very sorry that this has happened, but it's you who's going to lose out, not me".'
Gillian Duffy: called a 'bigot' by Gordon Brown on the election campaign
But Mr Brown persisted, even asking if Mrs Duffy would like to meet his wife Sarah and family at Downing Street. She said: 'He asked, "Have you met Sarah?" Well, how would I have met his wife?
'Then he asked, "Do you ever come down to London? If you ever come down you must come to Number Ten and meet me and Sarah".
'Well, I just looked at him. I didn't like to say it, but all I could think was, "I don't think you'll be there".'
The exchanges came last Wednesday, after Labour's election campaign was thrown into disarray when news of Mr Brown's extraordinary gaffe broke.
Interviewed by the Mail on Sunday, Mrs Duffy told how behind her closed front door Mr Brown made a series of grovelling apologies and tried to persuade her to reward him with a public act of forgiveness.
'He wanted me to go outside with him and shake hands in front of all the cameras, but I didn't want that fuss.'
She said what hurt her most was the dismissive way in which he referred to her as 'that woman'.
She added: 'I'm not "that woman". It's no way to talk of someone, that, is it? As if I'm to be brushed away. Why couldn't he have said "that lady"?'
Mrs Duffy, a widow, travelled at the weekend to Canada for a holiday with friends arranged long before her confrontation with the PM. She had arranged a postal vote, but decided not to use it.
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