Cameron showed lack of judgement over Greensill, says report
FORMER prime minister David Cameron showed a “significant lack of judgement” while lobbying the UK government on behalf of Greensill Capital, a report by MPs revealed.
The Treasury committee also questioned Cameron’s judgement on the financial health of the Greensill, which slipped into administration in March, the BBC reported.
The committee called for strengthening of rules regarding lobbying by former ministers as the current ones offer “insufficient strength”.
It added had Cameron “taken a broader and more enquiring assessment of the business”, there were “signals available” for him to take a “more restrained approach” when asking the government to help the firm.
The report came after Cameron was found to have lobbied for Greensill by sending texts to the chancellor, Rishi Sunak. Meanwhile, the former prime minister said he acted in good faith but there were “lessons to be learnt”.
Mel Stride, chair of the
Treasury committee, said the Treasury “took the right decision to reject the objectives of his (Cameron’s) lobbying, and the committee found that Treasury ministers and officials behaved with complete and absolute integrity,”
Greensill Capital made seven loans totalling £350 million to companies owned by Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance, which included Liberty Steel.
It was revealed in March that when advising Greensill, Cameron texted ministers within the Treasury to request access to emergency loans for the finance firm, but the requests were rejected.
Cameron has been cleared of breaking any rules over his lobbying, however critics have questioned his access to ministers. Cameron said, “While I am pleased the report confirms I broke no rules, I very much take on board its wider points.”
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said Cameron being cleared “proves the rules that are supposed to regulate lobbying are completely unfit for purpose”.