Google boss Eric Schmidt sneaks out of the No. 10 back door after Cameron refused to challenge him over 'evil' tax avoidance at summit

David Cameron today refused to confront Google’s tax avoidance at a meeting with the web firm’s executive chairman today.

The Prime Minister briefed business advisers on his plans for tackling global tax dodging but did not directly criticise Eric Schmidt over Google's arrangements which were last week branded ‘evil’ by MPs.

In bizarre scenes Mr Schmidt was driven to the door of Number 10 Downing Street for the meeting, but later left via the back entrance.

In and out: Google boss Eric Schmidt arrived for a top level meeting with David Cameron through the front door of Number 10, but later left via the back entrance

All smiles: Mr Schmidt (centre) seemed relaxed as he stepped from his car after being driven into Downing Street

Silence: Mr Cameron briefed his Business Advisory Group on his clampdown on tax avoidance but did not challenged Mr Schmidt over revelations about Google's low corporation tax bill

Last year the search engine firm paid only £7.3million in corporation tax on more than £3billion in UK sales.

Mr Cameron hosted a meeting of his elite Business Advisory Council in Downing Street today.

He set out his plan to use the G8 summit in Northern Ireland next month to crackdown on international tax havens.

But Downing Street said he will not address concerns about Google’s tax affairs, which were torn into by the Commons spending watchdog last week.

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During more than an hour of intense questioning, Google boss Matt Britten was repeatedly warned he was at risk of misleading Parliament, after denying that sales staff based in Britain were actually involved in ‘selling’, insisting deals were closed through its offices in Ireland.

Public Accounts Committee chairman Margaret Hodge blasted: ‘If you are a hard-pressed family who pay all their taxes, or if you are a struggling business who feel very bullied by HMRC and certainly hassled by them, how do you think they feel?

‘Every time they switch on to Google ... it reminds them of your rather devious, if I may say so, calculated and in my view unethical behaviour in deliberately manipulating the reality of your business to avoid paying your fair share of tax to the common good? How do you think ordinary people feel?’

Referring to the ‘Don’t be evil’ slogan, Mrs Hodge added: ‘I think you do do evil. That is, you use smoke and mirrors to avoid paying tax.’

Business Secretary Vince Cable backed 'public outrage' at multi-national firms like Google and Amazon who use legal but 'unethical' means to avoid paying tax.

However, the Prime Minister’s officials spokesman said he would not comment on companies or individuals, despite once branding the comedian Jimmy Carr’s tax avoidance as 'morally wrong'.

Google vice president Matt Brittin floundered during the grilling by MPs, admitting that committee chairman Margaret Hodge knew more about his firm than he did

Ahead of the meeting Downing Street made clear Mr Cameron would not raise Google's tax affairs.

‘The Prime Minister will be taking the group through his G8 agenda. Tax and tax transparency are at the heart of that,’ the spokesman said.

Asked whether the PM will specifically raise the concerns about Google's tax arrangements, the spokesman said: ‘We don't talk about individuals' or individual companies' tax affairs.

‘What the Prime Minister will be doing at that meeting today is explaining the tax transparency part of the G8 agenda which he has been discussing with other G8 leaders and will discuss again at the European Council this week.

‘He certainly is going to raise tax and reform of global tax rules including the ones under which multi-nationals operate. He is going to raise that with the entire Business Advisory Group.

‘When it comes to companies, companies should pay their tax.’

Mr Cameron will set out in detail the work which the UK has been doing in partnership with Germany, France, Spain and Italy on automatic exchanges of tax information.

While refusing to challenge Google, the PM has written to the leaders of Britain's offshore tax havens stressing the need to ‘get our own houses in order’.

Last year Google paid only £7.3million in corporation tax on more than £3billion in UK sales

In a message to 10 crown dependencies and British overseas territories Mr Cameron said he backed their right to be low tax jurisdictions but insisted that rules needed to be set and enforced fairly.

He said he wanted the G8 to ‘knock down the walls of company secrecy’ to reveal who really owns and controls firms.

The Prime Minister's letter calling for more transparency about tax information and the ownership of companies was sent to leaders in Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Anguilla, Montserrat, the Turks and Caicos Islands Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.

Mr Cameron wrote: ‘As you know, I have made fighting the scourge of tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance a priority for the G8 Summit which the UK is hosting next month.

‘With one month to go, this is the critical moment to get our own houses in order. I am looking to all the overseas territories and crown dependencies to continue to work in partnership with the UK in taking the lead on two critical issues: tax information exchange and beneficial ownership.’

He told the leaders: ‘I respect your right to be lower tax jurisdictions. I believe passionately in lower taxes as a vital driver of growth and prosperity for all.

‘But lower taxes are only sustainable if what is owed is actually paid - and if the rules to achieve this are set and enforced fairly to create a level playing field right across the world. There is no point in dealing with tax evasion in one country if the problem is simply displaced to another.’