What would Cadbury founders make of the company’s use of a complicated tax avoidance scheme, one wonders?

Cadbury, under the tutelage of Kleinwort Benson, used a loan note scheme to turn its income into capital and then offset its gains against its capital losses.

The company was founded by Quakers, of course. Now what do they believe in? ‘Campaigns for justice, equality and social reform, putting an end to poverty and deprivation,’ one informed source says.

All very worthy aims that complicated tax avoidance schemes do not tend to go hand-in-hand with (they certainly don’t pay for them).

And just so you know this is not just TS’s rabble-rousing point of view, the description of Quaker principles comes, not from us, but from Cadbury’s very own website.