ON INHERITANCE & PAYING TAXES
I could easily be in Monaco & pay no tax, but Britain has been good to me, I won’t rob them
Pair by Titania an ardent supporter of the UK leaving the EU.
He says he is despairing of the current political chaos, is critical of Theresa May’s handling of the process and claims Britain would be better off with a hard Brexit. Clearly no fan of the EU, he says: “Why do we want to be curtailed by a bunch of losers?”
Yet what about the fact the EU is the UK’s biggest single trading party? “There are 20 times more people in the rest of the world than there are in Europe,” is his answer. Or the potentially devastating impact on certain sectors economy if we crash out?
Mr Caudwell responds: “If you learn something in business and in life, it’s take the pain now, deal with the pain and come through it stronger than ever – and we would.”
Yet taking some “pain” is arguably a lot easier if you’re a billionaire than an ordinary worker who loses their job because of Brexit. “I don’t know the answers to some of the problems,” he admits, but adds: “I do know we will find solutions, we’ll move on.”
One aspect of Mr Caudwell’s life he has been unable to move on from is a chronic illness which has blighted the life of his son Rufus for the past 12 years.
From being an energetic and outgoing boy, aged 11 he deteriorated of the at devastating speed after being struck down with a mystery illness which left him mentally traumatised, needing 24 hour supervision and house bound for long periods because of extreme anxiety.
At one stage, the condition got so bad Rufus did not leave the house for two and a half years.
He was eventually diagnosed with neurological Lyme disease.
But the real breakthrough came when doctors much later pinpointed the main reason for his trauma, a barely known condition called Pans/Pandas.
Talking about the illness for the first time, Mr Caudwell said: “The person feels like they’re being attacked by a knife and it feels like the same anxiety they would feel if they were being attacked by someone.”
Yet the illness can be treated with antibiotics if diagnosed in the early stages.
Studies in the US suggest one in 200 children may have the condition.
It has inspired Mr Caudwell to set himself a mission. “It’s my job to try to make sure most of Britain has heard of Pans/Pandas in the next year,” he says.
With his steely ambition, who would doubt him?