Barclays tax avoidance: CEO Varley keeps digging

John Varley, Barclays CEO: "We are not shy about paying tax."

That must be why they're gagging the Guardian from publishing their tax machinations then.

And as for making local tax authorities aware of their activities, "transaction by transaction", that's certainly not what it said in the documents I read before the gagging order was granted.

I'd certainly like to see how they've come up with the conveniently round figure of "10 billion pounds" which Varley claims they've paid in UK taxes over the last five years. (Corporate tax? Income tax? Stamp duties? Who knows?)