David Cameron 'should be sent to prison' over offshore investments, says Ken Livingstone

'Cameron’s government, for the last six years, has been about a small elite getting richer while the poorer get left behind'

David Cameron "should be sent to prison" for profiting from his father's offshore investment fund, Ken Livingstone has said.

After the Panama Papers leak revealed the existence of the fund, the Prime Minister admitted on Thursday that he sold shares in it worth £30,000, shortly before being elected Prime Minister in 2010.

“Cameron’s government, for the last six years, has been about a small elite getting richer while the poorer get left behind," the former Mayor of London told Russian news channel RT. “He shouldn’t just resign, he should be sent to prison."

Calls for Mr Cameron to resign over the Panama Papers exposé have been led by US whistleblower Edward Snowden and Labour MP John Mann.

But Mr Livingstone said he felt Mr Cameron should have resigned "right when he started his term of office".

"His has been the most damaging government, [inflicting] huge damage to the poorest people, to communities that desperately need investment," he said.

There is no suggestion of criminal wrongdoing on Mr Cameron's part, but Mr Livingstone said he felt Mr Cameron had profited from lax regulation introduced by a previous Conservative Prime Minister.

"All this started with Mrs Thatcher," he said. "She started all the deregulation. People were able to move their money abroad, start not paying their taxes.

“Cameron's father spent 30 years laundering money through Panama and didn’t pay a penny of tax to Britain. And then his son was in denial, refusing to be honest about all of this.”

Five days elapsed between the release of the Panama Papers, which identified Ian Cameron by name, and the Prime Minister's admission that he had profited from his father's offshore unit trust.

Mr Livingstone added that he viewed Mr Cameron as "the most hypocritical Prime Minister of my lifetime".

Prior to Thursday's admission that he had pocketed nearly £20,000 in profit from the offshore fund, Blairmore Holdings, the Prime Minister had vocally criticised tax evasion, describing it as "frankly and morally wrong" and saying that "those who want to evade taxes have nowhere to hide."