It's my party and I'll criticise tax policy if I want to

DON’T YOU just hate it when you get you decide to hold a party, get your invites ready, get the best looking boys and girls to promise to attend only to realise that exactly the same people have been invited to a party next door – and they have said yes to that one too? Especially if the purpose of the other party is to (sort of) slag you off. Well, that is exactly what happened to the Association of Revenue and Customs. Their event, which will promote investment in the HMRC workforce, clashes with an event by the All Parliamentary Group on Taxation headed by MP Ian Liddell Grainger, who has been critical of the taxman’s inefficient use of resources. Pity poor Chas Roy Choudhury, head of tax at ACCA; having put his name down for both events at the Commons, he may be the subject of a popularity tug of war. The organisers may have to revise the quality of their cheese and pineapple sticks.