Cameron faces questions over Greensill’s card
resume its inquiry into whether Mr Johnson behaved with “honesty and integrity” and if there was any preferential treatment given to Ms Arcuri. The probe was paused while the IOPC investigated and then delayed by the pandemic.
Labour wants No10 to publish details of talks that led to Tory-linked firms being fasttracked to plum pandemic deals including in PPE.
Analysis last month found the value of contracts awarded to firms with connections to the Tories hit almost £2bn. The National Audit Office found those referred this way, including pals of MPs, were 10 times more likely to win deals.
Campaigners have taken legal action against the Cabinet Office over the decision to pay more than £500,000 to research firm Public First, run by friends of Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove. A ruling is set to be made.
Outsourcing giant Serco also got contracts, including a £108m deal to help run Test and Trace. Its chief executive Rupert Soames is the brother of former Tory MP Sir Nicholas. Health Minister Edward Argar was also a senior executive there until 2015.
Randox Laboratories Ltd received a number of contracts for Covid-19 testing, including two for £346.5m and £133m.
Tory MP Owen Paterson is a paid adviser but Randox denied he was involved in securing the contracts. Serco said it was “awarded the vast majority of work… through competition”.
ANGELA RAYNER ON TORY CRONYISM CLAIMS
QUESTIONS Card carries official phone number
DAVID Cameron last night faced further questions over his links to scandal-hit banker Lex Greensill after a business card emerged naming him as a ‘Senior Advisor” to No10.
The business card, thought to date back to Mr Cameron’s time as Prime Minister, shows Mr Greensill had an official Downing Street email address and direct landline phone number.
Labour says Mr Greensill handed the business card to a figure in the finance industry sometime in 2012, shortly after he was appointed as a “Supply Chain Finance Advisor”.
Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds said: “This raises further serious questions about the special access Lex Greensill was granted to the heart of government. The public have a right to know what happened here – we need a full, transparent and thorough investigation.”
The Committee on Standards in Public Life has reportedly indicated it would consider submissions by Labour over Mr Cameron’s dealings with the Australian whose company recently collapsed. However, it does not investigate individual cases and will only review the systems for upholding standards.
Mr Greensill was the main backer of Liberty Steel, which employs around 5,000 workers in the UK.
Mr Cameron was cleared by the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists after he was said to have privately urged Chancellor Rishi Sunak to offer financial support to Greensill Capital through Covid loan schemes.
The watchdog said Mr Cameron was not required to declare himself on the register of lobbyists because he was employed by the firm as an adviser.
Labour is demanding an inquiry after Mr Greensill was reportedly awarded a security pass for 11 departments to promote a financial product.
Mr Cameron and Mr Greensill also reportedly went on a camping trip in Saudi Arabia with ruler Mohammed Bin Salman a year after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Standards Committee chair Lord Evans, the former boss of MI5, made it clear that the watchdog did not investigate individual cases but indicated it would carry out a broader review of the systems for upholding standards of conduct.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng insisted Mr Cameron’s dealings with the firm had been addressed. He said: “I think people have looked at this. As far as I know David Cameron did absolutely nothing wrong, everything was above board”.
Mr Cameron’s office has been contacted for comment. Greensill administrators were reached but said they would not comment.
Cameron
We deserve to know taxpayers’ money is spent with integrity
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