Top taxman ditches civil service for mobile giant

Abstract

The director of HM Revenue & Customs' large business and employers customer unit John Connors has been poached by the Vodafone tax department, in a move that is said to have dismayed senior tax officials. The move is believed to have shocked senior HMRC officials, some of whom are understood to have felt betrayed by Connors's surprise move to a company involved in a bitter billion-pound dispute with the taxman. Connors is thought to have begun work at the mobile phone giant on Monday of this week as deputy group tax director. Connors's intimate knowledge of the workings of HMRC, where he spent 15 years, will prove invaluable to Vodafone as it prepares to fight off L2bn in unresolved tax claims.